Merlin

Wherever we walk now, be it in the village, along the beaches, across the links, or up into the forestry, the air is full of bird song. In the plantations above our house the most active areas for birds are the margins between the coniferous forestry, which has been largely silent through the winter, and the open scrub-land or land with scattered deciduous cover.

Too often, the birds aren't seen but heard. I say 'too often' because I have never been very good at identifying a bird by its song, and sometimes it's even more frustrating when I find a bird because it's singing, manage to photograph it, but still can't identify it.

Recently, a lady we meet quite frequently on our walks who is also a keen bird-watcher suggested I try an app called Merlin, created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. One of the features of the app is to recognise birds by their song. As long as it can clearly pick up the song, the app will produce a record:

....and identify the birds. This particular record identified seven species, including....

....a siskin, in the space of thirty seconds.

Since the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, established in 1915 and based at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, covers both Europe and North America, it's equally useful on both sides of the 'pond'.

I'm often amazed by modern technology and what people are capable of creating but I have to say that the Merlin app is outstanding.