TestenGOLD- Free

Sing on, sweet bird
Country Life UK|September 11, 2024
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
- Mark Cocker
Sing on, sweet bird

IT has been suggested that humans are hardwired to respond positively to other animals with rounded shapes that mimic those of our babies. Such creatures, runs the argument, are inadvertent beneficiaries of our parenting instinct and thus enjoy greater public affection. We can see it at work perhaps in the popularity of hedgehogs, puffins and owls.

I wonder if it helps explain our attachment to thrushes? The birds can puff themselves out until they look like spheres with tails. Not only are their shapes rounded, but four of the six British species bear spots upon their pot- bellied breasts. They are rounded in both shape and in pattern.

One thing we know— they stand among the most beloved of British birds. I have known people so intimate with individual thrushes in their gardens that the birds would enter the houses to feed or take food from the hand. One local friend has had the same female blackbird nest in his garden for six years. Not only can he recognise her, but she knows him and she calls him specifically when she wishes to be fed. Often, the relationships are ongoing, passed down between generations of the same bird family.

There is some ecological evidence to suggest that our affections for thrushes are reciprocated. The blackbird is arguably the most popular of all, but it was originally an inhabitant of pristine forest, to which its mellifluous song is sonically adapted. Blackbird vocalisations have a low fre- quency and such sounds carry better through the dense foliage of wooded environments. Yet blackbirds have, in part, forsaken forest. Their favourite sites now— the places where they achieve their highest breeding densities—are suburban gardens.

We love them and, it seems, they, in turn, love to live alongside us.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS COUNTRY LIFE UKAlle anzeigen
A brush with greatness
Country Life UK

A brush with greatness

Victor Hugo found solace in art, but dismissed his drawings as mere things made 'during hours of almost unconscious reverie'. Now, a Royal Academy exhibition reveals how powerfully they engage the imagination

time-read
8 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
Havens and hideaways
Country Life UK

Havens and hideaways

Some houses offer that little bit extra– a garden building to enhance your quality of life

time-read
2 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
A night on the tiles
Country Life UK

A night on the tiles

From bloody beginnings of drunken mayhem in public houses, it is somewhat surprising that the game of dominoes reached pearl-encrusted heights in our royal palaces

time-read
3 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
The legacy Gertrude Jekyll and herbaceous planting
Country Life UK

The legacy Gertrude Jekyll and herbaceous planting

Until Gertrude Jekyll showed us how to plant a flower border brimming with satisfying waves of colour, form and texture, no one had thought to do it.

time-read
1 min  |
March 19, 2025
Building on a dream
Country Life UK

Building on a dream

Evenley Wood Garden, Northamptonshire When Nicola Taylor took on her plantsman father's flower-filled woodland, she knew more about horses than trees, but, as Tiffany Daneff discovers, that hasn't stopped her from making a great success of the garden

time-read
6 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
Take a seat
Country Life UK

Take a seat

What makes a chair supremely comfortable? The rake, the suspension system, the frame or the fillings

time-read
2 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
Sour to the people
Country Life UK

Sour to the people

Vibrant, tangy and full of flavour, malt vinegar is still the best British condiment to slosh over hot fish and chips

time-read
3 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
My favourite painting Sir James MacMillan
Country Life UK

My favourite painting Sir James MacMillan

Le Christ en banlieue (Christ in the suburbs)

time-read
2 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
The architect for me
Country Life UK

The architect for me

In the first of two articles, Clive Aslet explores the relationship between Sir Edwin Lutyens and perhaps his most important private client, the politician and financier Reginald McKenna

time-read
8 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025
Directors take centre stage
Country Life UK

Directors take centre stage

The imaginative vision of those behind the scenes brings out the best acting in Shakespeare and Chekhov revivals

time-read
4 Minuten  |
March 19, 2025

Wir verwenden Cookies, um unsere Dienste bereitzustellen und zu verbessern. Durch die Nutzung unserer Website stimmen Sie zu, dass die Cookies gesetzt werden. Learn more