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Woodpigeons 

I heard a strange bird call in the wee small hours of the night and by the time I recalled it was the nocturnal flight call of a water rail I was wide awake and ready to wait for the blackbird to start the long overture to the dawn chorus. I know that water rails move around a lot but it still surprises me to hear one overhead here. There's a lot passes by unheralded in the night, I can pick out redwings and oystercatchers readily enough and I've got my ear in on common scoters though I've not heard them locally yet. There are a lot of distant twits and whistles I haven't been able to identify and the squeaks of passing fox cubs and the grunts of hedgehogs offer occasional distractions.

The dawn chorus was a solid affair though the robin didn't show up for it. The blackbird had a fight with the railway station blackbird partway through which added a bit of drama. The blackcap started singing at five and didn't stop for breath until lunchtime. A couple of woodpigeons had a singing duel on the washhouse roof before coming to blows. The wren does his singing then quietly goes about his business before making a comeback mid-morning. 

One of the cock sparrows made an appearance at the latter end of the dawn chorus which is unusual. There are plenty of spadgers about, I can hear them and I can see how quickly the fat balls are getting demolished on the feeders (the magpies and woodpigeons take their cut and the titmice take passing bites). The spadgers have been gratifyingly conspicuous today for a nice change. It turns out I've missed a brood of youngsters, a couple of immature birds in the roses this lunchtime were just old enough to have lost their yellow gapes. They were with a couple of the dark steel grey cock sparrows and one of the sandy brown hens though that doesn't necessarily mean they're a family group. 

There's a fair bit of cover for the spadgers these days.