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Credit: WTML
A silvery, crystal song that becomes more wistful during the winter months
Call: Produces a rapid, urgent 'tic' call when alarmed
Best time to hear
Can be heard all year round, but especially at dusk. Artificial lighting can encourage it to sing long into the evening
Short and fast descending song that ends with 'diddieoo', or repetitive, insistent single notes known as the chaffinch's rain song
Contact call is an abrupt 'pink, pink' sound
Can be heard throughout spring and summer
The data from your woodland trek is really useful. It can be used to shape our management of each wood and help us verify which species are present and – importantly - which may be missing.
Gathered over a number of years, more and more records can reveal changes in local populations. This acts as an early warning system. If we can see a certain species is declining year-on-year, we can investigate why it’s happening and crucially, how we might reverse the decline.
It also shows how positive management of woodland can increase local biodiversity, which benefits both nature and humans alike.
You don’t need to be an expert to get started. If you can recognise something as simple as two rabbits bouncing through the ferns in February, or a lonesome frog in November, that’s a valuable record.
To help surveyors improve their knowledge, we’ve been running wildlife workshops at Smithills for over two years in partnership with the Greater Manchester Ecology Unit. Each workshop has focused on a different wildlife group – we’ve had some on winter trees and others that have listened carefully for birdsong.
The Woodland Trust runs similar workshops across the UK, with lots of opportunities to learn more about how you can identify British flora and fauna. Check out our events page. They offer the perfect way to learn about and record native wildlife while meeting other enthusiasts.
