Outdoors with our rangers

Reaching our destination, we settle down as the sky starts to brighten. To focus, we all close our eyes and concentrate on the sound around us. Then it happens, the first call, way in the distance: a blackbird. Another replies from the other side of the field. Shortly after, a song thrush starts up with a strident and varied song, repeating short phrases several times. Next, a robin and then a wren. 

These loud calls are now punctuated by a softer call, ‘take two coos taffy’: a wood pigeon. The songs so far are all from our resident birds, but as the light begins to increase, migrant birds awake and join in the chorus too. 

The first of these is heard faintly from the distant shore: a common sandpiper. The distinctive cuckoo then calls from way off in Glen Rosa. Closer to us, willow warblers and chiffchaff start their day. By now there is a cacophony of sounds in all directions. 

Heading back through the woodland, we try and pick out different bird calls. The chiffchaff, like the cuckoo, calls out its name. The chaffinch sounds like a bowler in a game of cricket, with an occasional ‘pink, pink’ thrown in. Coal tits sound like a squeaky wheelbarrow, while great tits have a more strident ‘teacher, teacher’ call. 

Finally, as the clonking sound of the first ferry of the day punctuates the air, we arrive back at the ranger centre to be greeted by hot bacon and egg rolls and cups of steaming tea, all prepared by our seasonal ranger Ellie – a welcome sight indeed and a fine way to finish off our dawn chorus. 

Brodick Country Park Young Naturalist Club meets once a month. Open to 6–11-year-olds, its activities encourage engagement with nature. For more information, email goatfell@nts.org.uk

This story was first published in the spring 2025 edition of the National Trust for Scotland’s magazine.