RADIO 4: Tweet of the Day – Common Whitethroat

Isabella Tree talks of the scrubland-lover, the common whitethroat, on Tweet of the Day, this Sunday 8 August, 8.58am. LISTEN NOW – Tweet of the Day.

Common whitethroats arrive back at the Knepp Rewilding Project in West Sussex just as the hawthorn begins to bloom. Its numbers have increased there nearly 300% over the last 20 years. The secret of its success is the mass of scrubland habitat which has colonised this land since they gave up farming, providing insects and berries to eat. Conservationist Isabella Tree describes begin able to pick up the fast, scratchy, song of this long-distance migrant, above the cacophony of the dawn chorus. Presented by Isabella Tree and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio Production in Bristol. This programme features audio recorded at Knepp by Hazel Reeves. (BBC Radio 4 website)

This is the fourth in the series featuring my field recordings from Knepp Wildland. Catch the nightingale, cuckoo and turtle dove by scrolling down here. There are two more in the series to come – the white stork and the wigeon.