Ireland, April 2020, and it’s all systems go for birdlife all over the country – nature is going on as normal and the rich variety of birdsong that heralds the busy spring season ahead seems louder than ever before.
The birds are shifting into high gear, with frantic breeding activity, ceaseless singing, the busy defence of territories, the collecting of nesting material, sitting on eggs and for some already, the feeding of their young.
Visitors such as house martins are building nests from mud under the eaves of houses, while swallows are constructing with mud and grass in open sheds, barns or in porches.
Visiting summer breeders such as wheatears, sand martins and swifts are turning up all across the country, to be joined by cuckoos, which also typically arrive around now. Although cuckoos can be tricky enough to see, their distinctive call cannot be mistaken.
In the cities, town and gardens the sounds of resident wrens, robins, blue tits and blackbirds can be heard, while in the countryside you might be lucky enough to catch the rarer screeching of a barn owl or the rasping call of a corncrake.