What is this bird??

[Whatnottoweartomorrow]

Merlin says it's either a goldcrest (possibly I have seen a few), Robin or blackbird. Which i really don't think it is!

Link won't work 🙄

It's like a high pitched, short whistle, dipping at the end. Would love it if someone could suggest how to add my recording please...this bird has evaded me for years!😫

You need the Merlin app! That will tell you.

I've tried, but it says Robin, black bird or goldcrest 😫 every summertime it turns up at 4am with it's high pitched whistle!

The link did work but all I could hear was traffic noise.

i couldnt hear
how about blackcap, they are pretty noisy

I could hear it distantly, with headphones. Could definitely hear a flock of Vehiculum currus ;)

Way too high pitched for a blackbird, still too high and too cutesy for a robin. Not blackcap because they sound like blackbirds on cocaine (overexcited...). Goldcrest seems far more likely - it's the right pitch. Unfortunately their calls are pretty varied! Have a listen on Xeno Canto so you can compare https://xeno-canto.org/species/Regulus-regulus
Goldcrests do have regional variations (accents/dialects if you will), so try to listen to some close to you - very easy with the map.

It seems the right tone for a Goldcrest. Cute little things 😍 I'll forgive them for their now 3am wake up calls!

This might be better...

Not blackcap because they sound like blackbirds on cocaine (overexcited...)

Yes! That’s the perfect description of them.

Xeno canto is amazing! Thanks for the link x

My pleasure! I know people like to rave about Merlin, but Xeno Canto is so good for comparing and contrasting. And also great for listening to weird calls from birds on the other side of the world 😅

Dunnocks have a high pitched, rather annoying one note whistle.

Hi all, thank you for your help 😊 it's definitely a goldcrest! I spotted one this morning doing it's little whistle when I let the dog out, it was perched in one of our neighbours trees and I wouldn't have spotted it if it hadn't of been for one of our resident robins sitting nearby singing loudly at it!
Going to leave them some mealworms to celebrate 🍾

Lovely! I was excited yesterday because there were two goldcrests in the pine and a nuthatch in the willow as I was sitting in the shade. Such delightful wee birds.

I think dunnocks have a nice song, @fruitandvegoverload ! Not as complex as a robin but still very pretty. We’ve had a trio in our hawthorn for years.

@MoistVonL yes dunnocks have a lovely song sorry I meant their alarm call. When they sit on a branch and just blast out this tuneless one note for ages, it makes me go back indoors 😂

Our robins are going through an arsey phase and are chip-chipping their alarm call all damned day. I think they’ve taken exception to the existence of squirrels.

But our avian noisy nuisance is the carrion crow fledgling.
Big, ungainly, and its voice hasn’t broken yet so it’s the most ridiculous squawk. Like Simba practicing his roar, it seemed to spend most of its daylight hours trying to get the deep raspy caw of its parents. I feel
like giving it a throat lozenge and telling it to chill the hell out for a day or two.

@MoistVonL 😂

I wish the magpies wouldn't kick up such a football rattle racket if a buzzard so much as flies near our garden, and if the poor thing lands in a tree, well it's hounded until it leaves and I have no time to admire it!

I can always tell when the sparrowhawk is about as, after one or two panicked shrieks, the garden falls completely silent.

@fruitandvegoverload - we have the reverse! It's red kites daily and that sends the carrion crows into a frenzy as they chase the kites away. Poor kites get a rough ride. Everyone seems to ignore the buzzard.

One thing I love about magpies - and maybe you've noticed the same - is how loyal they are. If one or two magpies on the wing are in some argy bargy with another bird and shriek, magpies from all the surrounding spaces come to help. Immediately, whatever they were doing.

What starts as pair defending the nest becomes seven or eight magpies overwhelming the intruders until they leave. It's very endearing how they instantly back each other um.

Come to think of it, maybe it's more like gangland than a warm family. 😂

Tbf it's yelling at you to go away, so it's clearly working