Planet Birdsong - a day of creativity
On Monday Lower and Upper Fourth got the chance to meet part of the team from Planet Birdsong, an organisation that is helping to educate people on birdsong. This includes learning to recognise different bird’s songs and calls out in the real world as well as delving deeper into how the sounds are made up using recordings.
We started and ended the day all together, learning about sonographs (used to show the highs, lows and lengths of different notes) and how birdsong is made up of repeated patterns. This included drawing our own sonographs and creating lyrics to birdsong!
Next we were split into smaller groups and got the chance to walk through the grounds, and — with the help of Peter Cowdrey, the founder of Planet Birdsong, we quickly learnt to distinguish between the different birds we could hear. This included the great tit, wren, blackbird, robin, chaffinch, chiffchaff, wood pigeon and more. We also saw a greater spotted woodpecker feeding its young in their nest, high up in a tree.
In my opinion, the best part of the day was the opportunity to ‘sing like a bird’. This concept might appear strange, but it was the most unique and eye-opening experience I have ever had. Birdsong is far too quick and high pitched for a human to sing, so Planet Birdsong have slowed down recordings of birds, to a quarter or even an eighth of their original speed. Then all you need to do is copy the sounds you hear. After a few practices, this is recorded and sped up again, and you really can sing like a bird!
The day was a great success all round and I am sure that none of us will ever think of birdsong as meaningless twitter again!
Written by Upper Four’s Phoebe
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