The Collins Bird Guide has this....I reckon you probably have to be a genius to suss out the bird from that alone....if you have, well done...or you looked it up years back and found it as funny as I did...and do....
....so no longer will you write Chiffchaff in your note book, onomatopoeia lost...but pyit pyut....and guckoo, another lost onomatopoeiac cause, will be arriving very soon at Whetsted....im sure you know what that is though....I must look up Kittiwake sometime!
Aside from the peculiarity of bird song...I looked it up as there was a Chiffchaff...er....a pyit pyut...on site this morning with a very peculiar version of its song, very wet....sounded like a pyit pyut with a beak full of water...
When I was still training to ring birds we had another trainee who used to bring along his Collins book and try to interpret, from the text, bird song....all rather amusing...heh heh!
0600 - 0815 overcast but becoming brighter, mild.
Decided to do a warbler count today rather than an everything count....a good decision as the number of birds on the pits has now drastically reduced...I only found one Shoveler today. So....without further delay....
Warbler count:
pyit pyut 33
Nightingale 4
Willow Warbler 2
Blackcap 14
Around the pits:
Chaffinch, Blackbird, Robin, Great Tit, Crow, Woodpigeon, Song Thrush, Jay, Magpie, Wren, Dunnock, Blue Tit, Linnet, Skylark, Jackdaw, Green Woodpecker, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, 2 Mistle Thrush, Treecreeper, Long Tail Tit, Feral Pigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker.
And on the pits:
Grey Heron, Green Sandpiper, Mallard, Greylag Goose, Canada Geese, Tufted Duck, Mute Swan, Coot, Pochard, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, 2 Mandarin Duck, Cormorant.
I'm up to 7 Pyit Pyuts on my patch now Graham :-)
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