Sunday, July 15, 2012

EVERY INCHIE MONDAY

The theme for the Inchies this week is
BLACK
Could have gone a lot of different ways with this, but it's summer time (even though I understand from today's paper that Britain is being inundated with rain ) and I'm thinking a lot about birds.  The English Blackbird is a great singer.  For some people he becomes a bit annoying because he is so loud and is usually the first bird awake in the morning -- around 4:30 a. m. in June. 



When I was in college all we students who were studying Natural History had a special 'field trip assignment'. We had to set ourselves up in the college grounds, which was out in the Derbyshire countryside, at 3:30 one morning to document the beginning of the Dawn Chorus of the British song birds.  It really is quite a spectacular event every year in the spring, culminating in a great crescendo of birds singing their hearts out in mid June very early, every morning.  Of course the blackbird is the first to wake all the others and that's what we were there to document.  

I suspect he is also one of the later singers in the evening.  A few years ago I was in England at Hothorpe Hall for a conference.  I wandered out into the beautiful gardens one evening to seek a little peace from the variety of activity at the conference.  Sure enough, as it grew dusk, it was late June and the blackbirds were lustily singing away in the surrounding woods.

 So my Inchie this week proclaims the earliest, loudest and probably the latest singer, the English Blackbird.

To see more Inchies illustrating the theme BLACK please click HERE

17 comments:

snafu said...

Nice picture. I will take your word that the blackbird starts first, I am usually not too aware of outside events at that time of day. The blackbirds around my previous house regularly used to cluck every evening, much like their alarm call but less urgently and there were a few nightingales that sang from twilight until after dark. Around here, I hear blackbirds singing after the other birds have gone quiet but no nightingales.

jane said...

I have a large number of blackbirds that visit my garden and the sultana dish - yes they do
sing very early - mainly in spring and early summer to proclaim their breeding territory- Jane UK

rtquilter said...

Blackbirds are one of my favourites in UK. You can always count on a song before breakfast :-) Love it Chris!

kaybee said...

Your drawing of the blackbird almost makes me like them - it's very well done!

Unfortunately, blackbirds are a real pest here - not my most favourite bird :{

MorningAJ said...

I love blackbirds and one of the very few oil paintings I've ever finished was of one.

Gorgeous inchie. Well done!

mrsnesbitt said...

The first notes we hear are from Ernest the cockerel - usually around 4am! lol!

Diane said...

They're on! xxxxxx

Morning's Minion said...

Your blackbird has a very alert and jaunty air. I like him!

ChrisJ said...

For those of you who wonder what Diane's comment means, please visit her page and see all the wonderful pictures and commentary on my favorite place in all the world -- FLAMBOROUGH HEAD!!!

It was amazingly thoughtful of her to take these photos for me while she was visiting there.

THANK YOU DIANE of HEART-SHAPED

diane b said...

Hi I just popped over from Diane at Heart Shaped and scrolled through your blog. Very interesting. Great art work. I tried to read the newspaper article on Diane's blog but found it too small. I saw a website mentioned but couldn't see it properly either. Is there somewhwere I can read it easily?

Wanda said...

Love your sketch, and hope he's not the black bird that was baked in the pie in the Nursery Rhyme.

Wanda said...

Love your sketch, and hope he's not the black bird that was baked in the pie in the Nursery Rhyme.

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