Here is thread about springtime. I have two questions for you:
What are the signs that you notice in your local area that indicate that spring has arrived?
Have you any favourite pieces of music about spring?
For me, one primary sign of the oncome of spring in Stockholm is the arrival of the fieldfares. This will be odd to those of you in the UK, for whom the fieldfare is an uncommon winter bird
Suddenly in late March, they are everywhere.
I knew nothing about these feisty little thrushes until I watched David Attenborough’s magnificent TV series The Life of Birds. There is a sequence, shot in Sweden, in which a group of fieldfares work together to chase away a hungry raven which is after eggs and chicks.
They are the avine equivalent of the Neighbourhood Watch.
The Swedish name is björktrast (birch thrush). Linnaeus’s Latin name was the unappealing Turdus pilaris.
And now for some springy songs.
Jazz, folk music, madrigals, musicals, Americana.. every musical genre has great song or two about the joys of spring. The birds are singing vigorously and it’s almost as though we humans are inspired to do likewise.
How about It was a lover and his lass – with lyrics by the “As you like it” Hitmaker Willy S.
Or Southland in the springtime by the Indigo Girls.
This is not an exclusively ornithological thread.
Your rite of spring might be…
Changing your car to summer tyres
Opening up your summer cottage
Your first dip in the sea or the local lake
Spotting the first butterfly or bumble bee
Tuning up your keyharp to prepare for the first outdoor dance
Digging out your bikini from the back of the wardrobe where it has languished all winter
Moose the Mooche says
This thread’s been here for nearly eight minutes. Get this zombie crap off my computer. I demand that the Afterword consists entirely of things that I like at all times.
Kaisfatdad says
What a a cracking song!
It make me want to dash out and buy a bottle of Jack and a dawg.
bobness says
Love the Indigo Girls.
And love that you lend us your fieldfares (and redwings too) in winter.
I live right on the edge of the city area in Nottingham, so it’s a 2 minute walk into farmed fields, and the fields are covered in both of these birds most of the winter. Not seen any in my garden at this house yet, but did, especially when snowy, in the old one. Beauties.
pawsforthought says
We witnessed a couple of wood pigeons ‘going for it’ on our garden fence earlier. This isn’t the Brexit I voted for.
Happy Spring
bobness says
Our garden fence and apple tree is like a continuous reel of pigeons walking in and needing to mend the photocopier at the moment. I hardly know where to look.
thecheshirecat says
Well, for me, spring is most definitely ornithological, and you can be sure it is for Martin Simpson as well. One of my favourite songs ever.
‘Hot August nights their absence grieve’. Fabulous.
Kaisfatdad says
Yes, It’s a cracker.
Do you ever sing it yourself?
thecheshirecat says
How did you guess? *winky eye emoji thingy*
In fact, there’s only one other song which gives me so much pleasure to sing.
Kaisfatdad says
I suspected as much! It must be a great pleasure to take a song you love and make it your own and also sing it for people who’ve never heard it before.
When you listen to a new album, at the back of your mind, there must always be the thought: that one there would be perfect for me.
thecheshirecat says
The way it works. I rarely go out looking for songs in specific places – that method just doesn’t bear fruit. But at a gig, at a singing session, an album on in the background, something will just cut through and announce itself as a song worth the singing.
There are albums I love, artists I love, where that never happens; then there’ll be another album from which I’ll reap a harvest.
Slug says
“Opening up your summer cottage.” I wouldn’t know. I have my people do that for me.
Blimey. How the other half live, eh?
Sitheref2409 says
It’s Autumn here you NH-centered person you!
Kaisfatdad says
True. But it will be spring again in September and I very keen to hear what that entails down there in the Southern hemisphere.
Which are the birds and flowers which characterise springtime i Australia and New Zealand?
What I do know, from a few anecdotes from Johnny Concheroo, is that your magpies get even more aggressive in nesting season.
johnw says
Bloody blossom! I know all the ‘pro’ arguments.. it’s a necessary part of the eco-system, the trees look really nice but the ‘cons’ surely outweigh them!… it gets everywhere, it sticks to your car, needs sweeping up for several weeks.
Gatz says
I measure spring by the progress of the blossom on the bird cherry outside my living room window. The blossom has been late this cold year, but this morning it finally looks like this.
Kaisfatdad says
Just went out to see my daughter off to school and the first thing we saw was this fieldfare dive-bombing a crow which was twice its size. Getting too near the nesting area I guess.
Not quite a terrifying as an Aussie magpie (what is?) but it gets the job done.
Here’s that Attenborough clip.
mikethep says
No hey nonny no about the change the seasons here – strictly and immovably first of the month. Autumn will start on September 1, no arguing. It usually kicks off with a heatwave in Brisbane. You can plant your cucumbers and pumpkins, but it’s too early for tomatoes. Not too early for fireworks and boys’ toys however…
mikethep says
When I said Autumn will start on September 1 I mean Spring, of course…even more addled than usual.
GCU Grey Area says
‘Our’* swallows have been back for over three weeks now, although overall numbers in our patch are still down on what they usually are. I adore swallows, and their return the last two years has provided a small amount of joy in a pretty shit time.
I saw the first House Martins on Saturday, and the birds I saw appear to be those which nest under the neighbours eaves.
Yesterday, I heard Swifts, eventually seeing the two or three birds screaming passing over.
Something wonderful about all three of those birds; all intimately tied to us by their reliance on our buildings to nest in, but not needing the food we put out for the others.
*They nest in one neighbour’s outbuilding, and our next door neighbour’s garage which adjoins ours. They have tried to nest in ours, but they crap everywhere, especially down the side of any cars – they object to the other swallows they can see in the wing mirrors.
davebigpicture says
Lovely post. You’ve reminded me that when I met my wife, I lived in a large attic room which had a window that looked out under the roof. We would wake in the morning and lie in bed, watching the House Martins busily dashing to and fro with insects for the chicks then, a few weeks later, the babies would put their heads out of the nest, waiting for the parent’s return.
GCU Grey Area says
I like the ‘squelchy’ noise House Martins make.
I was watching the half dozen or so swallows flying around this morning for about ten minutes. I could watch them all day. I think a large part of their appeal for me is how they fly. They emerge from their nests, and rise up into the air, and there never seems to be any wasted effort in their flight. Despite the turbulence round the buildings, they seem to get around with great economy, their wings apparently dealing with and taking advantage of every bit of the current. They can move very quickly, but never seem to flap very rapidly, unless they do a rapid turn in pursuit of an insect.
The Martins seem to glide more than the Swallows. Swifts do too, but their wingbeats often appear really frantic.
In the summer, with doors and windows open, we occasionally have had Swallows in the house, flying round the ground floor. They usually leave as quickly, without too much panic. I have held one twice; both birds which had stunned themselves on the windows. Both recovered, and flew from my hands. Just gorgeous things.
thecheshirecat says
Yes, the swallows and martens have been back here, but reasonably, we are about a week behind you. But we’re too rural for swifts, which always have exotic connections for me – wheeling rooftops of small town France. How I love that sound; back to that Martin Simpson song above “Swifts scythe and scream through the city dusk.”
Moose the Mooche says
Too rural for swifts, too orangey for crows.
GCU Grey Area says
Oh deep joy, that’s the next earworm sorted.
hubert rawlinson says
Well it’s Mai.
Seeing the fresh leaves, picking purple sprouting broccoli, and in the coming days a trip to see the spoonbills.
After that a lie down methinks.
Kaisfatdad says
I rather enjoyed Pyewacket, so of course I had to fid out more about them.
A challenging but interesting task.
http://dictionary.sensagent.com/PYEWACKET/en-en/
Here they are live
Here’s an album
GCU Grey Area says
Regarding Pyewacket, this is the frontispiece from Matthew Hopkins’ book ‘The Discovery of Witches’ which is the source of the name as mentioned in the link. If you visit the fantastic ‘astronautix dot com’ there’s loads on a rocket / weapon project of the same name.
Oddly, I have been working on redrawing the ‘Holt’ part as a possible t-shirt design.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks! We’re getting some smashing anecdotes about the birds, bees and trees.
Time for a few tunes
..
Delius in the forest, hearing a cuckoo.
Mike Scott is in Spiddal
Over in Sweden, Ranarim welcome the month of May.
Exquisite ambient tune from Italy’s Ludovico Einaudi
Some springy pop from Quebec’s Couer de Pirate.
Boneshaker says
There are starlings and house sparrows nesting in the eaves, goldfinches and blue tits flitting in the trees and a blackbird singing on the roof. The birch trees are covered in catkins – although the wind has blown many of them off – and the hedges are a lovely shade of lime green. Everywhere the garden is finally springing to glorious life. The neighbours are also spending a lot of time shouting on their balcony, but you can’t have everything.
Dave Ross says
I’m very fortunate to live near a common where cows graze and hold up the traffic on the road through the middle, all in their own time. They are out from March to October. I always imagine there’s something quite fascinating going on behind their gaze. Cows seem to have life sorted until we get involved… Theres a ditch / stream that runs around it and we have regular nesting swans who have just given birth and Canada geese. I love this time of year. Music wise I’m being Mr Obvious but I just stick Talk Talk on as I wander round the common with the dog. Lovely…..
Kaisfatdad says
There is nothing wrong with going for the obvious, Dave. I’ve just added Talk Talk to my playlist.
Thanks Boneshaker and Dave, for your wonderfully bucolic descriptions.
Just stumbled across Al Bowlly’s version of Shakey’s hit. Excellent.
I do enjoy some Hey Nonny nonnying but is rather like eating Xmas pub. A little goes a long way.
Kaisfatdad says
Primavera is the word for spring in both Spanish and Italian.
Now there a cue for a catchy song or two.
From Mexico, Carlos Santana
From Catalonia, Maria del Mar Bonet
Luca Carboni from Bologna,
Manu Chao, From Barcelona/ Paris/baall over,
hubert rawlinson says
And this one.
Kaisfatdad says
Great choice, Hubert. Her own favourite too.
It led me to this song.
Another great Portuguese singer.
Martin Hairnet says
Spring has certainly sprung here in Spain. I wandered outside yesterday morning and instantly got a whiff of the sickly sweet smell of wild boar. Sure enough, standing just the other side of my newly installed (and highly effective) electric fence was a female wild boar and half a dozen or so tiny piglets. After some grungey shouting she reluctantly went on her way.
Up above it’s the bee-eaters and golden orioles, summer visitors from Africa, that always give me a warm glow. The golden orioles are shy birds, difficult to spot, but their simple and beautiful calls resonate across the valley. They are often the first thing I hear when I wake up in the morning. When the chicks have fledged the adults become more bold and sometimes feed on the plum tree by the house. They are the most radiant yellow, unlike their Baltimore cousins.
(As an aside, what was wrong with the original cover for Somewhere in England? Apart from being geographically inaccurate that redone sleeve is a shocker).
Kaisfatdad says
Dramatic stuff! An epic struggle Between man and swine, @Martin Hairnet, I look forward to further developments.
For those of us who aren’t familiar this this beautiful bird, here’s the golden oriole.
Linnaeus named it Oriolus oriolus
Here’s a wonderful bit of Slow TV for you featuring goldie orolie
Kaisfatdad says
Spring is a glorious time for the polyglot ornithologist.
When I posted that lovely song by Mafredeus, I had no idea what an “andorinha” was.
It’s the Portuguese for swallow. Was there ever a bird that inspired more poems and music?
The French word is hirondelle.
A vintage tune from chanteuse Rina Ketty
And from Quebec Les Cowboys Fringants
The Spanish word is golondrina
Chavela Vargas
Nana Mouskouri
thecheshirecat says
I should think nightingales / rossignols are up there for avian inspiration. I am sufficiently anorakical to have a Top 10 of birdsong. The blackbird wins out.
Kaisfatdad says
Vive le Anorak!
I think the blackbird is a very worthy winner as so many people get to hear it.
Nightingales are wonderful singers their recitals are not an everyday occurrence for most of us.
I just came back from the shops (it’s 21.15) and there in the dusklight was a blackbird, perched on the highest branch of the tallest tree in our square, singing his heart out
Magnificent!
duco01 says
A top 10 of birdsong?
The corncrake has got to be in there somewhere, with its famous “crex crex” rasp…
thecheshirecat says
You mean this corncrake?
The competition includes the tui, curlew, bellbird, lapwing, Montane nightjar, Australian magpie, blackcap, Eastern whipbird.
Kaisfatdad says
That is a smashing song. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it is a cover version.
The song has quite a history.
hubert rawlinson says
I was on Iona about tenish years ago there was a group of people standing and looking at a field.
It turned out there was a corncrake somewhere in there, at least I can say I’ve heard one not seen one though.
Kaisfatdad says
But isn’t that so often the case when we hear a bird singing, @Hubert Rawlinson?
Again and again, I hear a melody coming from a tree but I rarely get to see the bird.
Thank heavens for these show-off male birds that fly to the top of a tree to sing!
bobness says
As perching birds are known as passerines, the swallows and martins are known as hirundines.
Kaisfatdad says
Forget KLF, LMFAO, XTC, and EMF! I’ve just been listening to the hit single by the RSPB.
I was fascinated to hear International Dawn Chorus Day happens every year at the beginning of May
https://www.rspb.org.uk/reserves-and-events/events-dates-and-inspiration/events/dawn-chorus/
Kaisfatdad says
On the subject of birds, I’m going to post this wonderful poem by Laurie Andersson. Just in case you have not heard it.
retropath2 says
Another cracker from @thecheshirecat ‘s repertoire
Kaisfatdad says
Novelty records don’t get much catchier.
What an interesting chap Kay Kyser was.
thecheshirecat says
It just so happens that the new edition of Songlines features an ‘Avian-Inspired’ playlist.
hubert rawlinson says
Thanks for this @thecheshirecat just got the magazine, out of interest how did you access this Spotify playlist.
thecheshirecat says
It was on the email they send out each month as the new issue comes out.
hubert rawlinson says
Ah found it! Gmail stuffs them into one of their folders which I never notice. I know to check now.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks a lot Hubert and Cheshire. That was a real find.
It led to this remarkable Wiki piece on birdsong and music that will keep me busy all week.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birds_in_music
It mentions this site that commemorates Beatrice Harrison’s duet with the nightingales in 1924.
http://nightingalenights.org.uk/celebrate-in-song/
In 2014, in celebration of the 90th anniversary of that historic broadcast, violinist Janet Welsh did a duet with a nightingale. There is a lot more ambient noise!
thecheshirecat says
You may like this too, and Beatrice gets a mention.
I saw one of Sam’s gigs a few years back. Nightingales don’t get this far north, so they were beamed in, and Sam, Kate Young and Jarlath Henderson (that’s some line up) were beamed back to Knepp in Sussex, which is Rewilding Central, so the musicians and birds could bounce off each other.
I have clear memories of cycling in France, climbing above oak woods filled with nightingales. Whatever the audio version of ‘spectacular’ is, it was.
hubert rawlinson says
I did see a nightingale near my old house in Yorkshire once perhaps it was blown off course.
I did a walk to listen to the nightingales singing at the dawn chorus once in Cambridgeshire, truly magical.
Moose the Mooche says
Yesterday I watched a seagull swallow a sparrow whole.
On the plus side, he wasn’t eating my chips.
hubert rawlinson says
Moosey I saw a marabou stork catch and swallow whole a starling as it flew past.
Moose the Mooche says
I can’t tell the difference.
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks for those stories, Cheshire and Hubert!
A while back, I was staying with my cousin Ron and his wife Clare deep in the wilds of the Sussex countryside, east of Lewes.
We were chatting and catching up, when at about 23.00, he quite unexpectedly turned off the stereo, turned down the light and opened the large window and told me to listen carefully.
Nightingales!
I am very glad that he did not explain anything to me in advance.
A quite magic experience. Words fail me.
Kaisfatdad says
On the subject of Sam Lee, YT suggested this song which features Elizabeth Fraser.
Very lovely it is too!
Kaisfatdad says
Well I never!
The German language has three different words for spring!
der Frühling, das Frühjahr and Der Lenz,
I learnt that from this informative site for language learners.
https://angelikasgerman.co.uk/the-seasons-in-german-fruhling/
She makes an entertaining comment on a particularly German malaise:
“die Frühjahrsmüdigkeit – spring fever, lethargy, an illness that apparently only the Germans get because no other language has a word for it.”
Here’s a gorgeous springy piano piece by Mendelsohn.
What would spring be without Rammstein?
Here it is with lyrics in English. Not much “hey nonny no” here!
Locust says
@Kaisfatdad, the Germans always claim that they have words that doesn’t exist in any other languages… 😉 Have you never heard of vårtrötthet or vårfeber in all of the years you’ve lived in Scandinavia? You must have felt it at least, because after a long dark winter it will definitely get you, unless you stuff yourself full of vitamin D!
Kaisfatdad says
Thanks a lot for picking me up on that @Locust.
Once I stop to think of it, of course I’ve heard of people getting tired and suffering from depression in spring,
Duh! Dunce’s Corner for me!
Knowing that Germans do have a fondness for esoteric long words, I took her at her word.
Bildungsroman, Lebensmude, Weltschmerz ,Schadenfreude are all examples of long German words which have been borrowed by the English language.
Personally I’ve had a very joyous spring this year, so I forgot this other side of the coin.
According to the article about Hay Fever that I posted below, spring fever can mean two contradictory things:
“not feeling on top of things in the spring”
“an increasing energy, vitality and sexual appetite”
http://jnels.se/2012/05/05/lenten-fever/
I was interested to read that he term “hay fever” was not used until 1819 when Dr John Bostock described nd named the condition
! How odd! There must have been pollen allergy sufferers before!
th ever-reliable Ray Davies has written a song about the pains of hay fever.
Kaisfatdad says
One day into June, and I discover this family band from Quebec singing a cracking traditional Quebecois song.
I also made a playlist based on all your marvelous suggestions and several of mine.