Churchyard Nature Note with Andrew Tompsett
March 2010
The wise thrush
“He sings each song twice over
Lest you should think
He never could recapture
The first fine careless rapture”
Robert Browning ‘Home thoughts from abroad’
The song thrush is one of our finest songstersand we are fortunate in usually having acouple of pairs nesting in our churchyardeach spring.They are in fact,
like blackbirds, generally resident throughout the year in Cornwall even
though others do move south and west
from other areas in cold spells, but never
in as great numbers as their close
relatives the redwings and fieldfares,
last winter.
It is largely for the benefit of our resident
thrushes that we retainsome bramble thickets. Sadly, thrush numbers have declined seriously and unlike the more numerous and aggressive blackbird they seem less able to defend their nests against predatory magpies and jays. Without patches of dense cover their
nests are often located and their eggs
and young eaten.
Interestingly the Isles of Scilly have a high population of song thrushes and it may be
the absence of magpies and jays that helps to explain this. Their springtime songs from high perches and rooftops are one of the joys of visiting the Isles
As we all know, thrushes eat many snails
and you may have seen the ‘anvil’ stones on which they break the shells. I recently saw some very obvious ‘snail execution sites’ in the dunes at Godrevy.
Thrush’s nests and eggs, now a rare
sight, are unusual and beautiful. The nest
is lined with a mixture of mud and rotten wood, like sawdust, and is beautifully moulded. The skyblue eggs bear small black dots and a clutch is usually five. Records over many years confirm that the thrush population has declined steeply since the mid 70’s so we must do all we can to help maintain their numbers. So, please retain dense hedges and shrubberies,keep your cat in at night, and use slug pellets sparingly if at all and never in the churchyard.
Robert Browning whilst abroad so missed the thrush’s song. Surelywe would miss it terribly were we to lose it.Thrushes are just one of some 20 species that sing in the churchyard. Can you recognise their songs? If not, join us as we witness the dawn chorus on 1 May in Maningham Wood at 6.30 am. That’s not dawn but it’s early enough!