Join Me For International Dawn Chorus Day!

Live Streaming on Instagram @beavers_derbyshire

Sunday May 4th at 5:15am (UK)

Dawn Chorus From Willington Wetlands, Derbyshire Wildlife Trust Nature Reserve

Beautiful Willington Wetlands, Derbyshire

There is something very special about the Spring dawn chorus, don't you agree? Or maybe you've never really noticed? It is one of my favourite times of year when new life is simply bursting forth into the World. Each year (since about 1984 in Birmingham) International Dawn Chorus Day has been a joyous celebration of the symphony of bird song at the peak of Spring activity, now celebrated in over 80 countries around the world.

This year I'd like to invite you to join us at a very special wildlife reserve called Willington Wetlands, via the magic of live stream over on Instagram, so that you can hear and enjoy the beautiful chorus with us, from the comfort of your own home, wherever you are!

The wetlands attract a huge variety of water birds and other bird species and due to the increasing biodiversity this continues to increase year on year, making this a super place to be for the dawn chorus.

You may be aware I am a volunteer with the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust and have been sharing Willington Wetland Live Streams since August last year. Each live we share something wonderful about this very special place, where the Eurasian Beavers returned just over three years ago after an absence of 800 years. Since then this recovering reserve has been rewilding in amazing and breathtaking ways, enticing so many species to visit and breed here. It truly is a wildlife and nature haven.

For this special Dawn Chorus live I am very excited to share that we will be joined by the marvelous Richard Winspear who is a fellow Willington Wetlands Volunteer and also works for the RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds).

Richard is the RSPB’s Agricultural Advice Manager, working with farmers as a conservation advisor for over 30 years. He leads a team who manage RSPB Hope Farm, who run a scheme to offer volunteer bird surveys to farmers, lead the Farm Wildlife Partnership and offer advisory support in the development of agri-environment schemes across the UK. An avid birdwatcher, Richard is as much at home showing people the wonders of the dawn chorus as he is discussing the intricacies of nature-friendly farming.

Richard will be sharing his considerable expertise helping us to identify the many and varied bird calls, which I am SO excited about. Keep your fingers crossed that we might even be fortunate enough to hear a Bittern booming too, as they successfully reared young at Willington last year and have been heard recently. There will be a huge variety of bird song and it will be something very special indeed.

Now, it is going to require an early alarm call for us all, as we are starting just before sunrise at 05:15 (UK) but I promise you it is going to be worth it!

So how do you join us, I hear you cry! It is simple.

Go onto your Instagram account (if you don't have one just set up a free account - which you can always abandon afterwards if you like.) Then search for @beavers_derbyshire or just use this link HERE

At 5:15am you will see us pop up live on the grid, simply click into it and you will join us. That's it!

You can ask any questions you have or share which birds you are hearing where you are, by using the comments box, my lovely husband and cameraman extraordinaire will be watching out for them.

If you are already on Instagram, you can also go ahead to this page now, click on the link on the bio page to request a reminder for the live.

Don't worry if you can't join us at this time though!

I will share the replay of the whole live on the Instagram account.

Fingers Crossed To Hear A Bittern Booming

I do hope you will be able to join us live, it is going to be a wonderful way to start your Sunday morning. I'd love to hear from you if you are joining us - simply comment below.

Warmest wishes, Jules xxx