You may have noticed, as the days get longer and warmer, that the sound of the dawn chorus has got louder. April is peak time for birdsong, heralding the end of cold, dark winter nights and the start of the breeding season. Much has been written about birdsong and the dawn chorus over the years, as it is so woven into the fabric of life on earth. The 19th Century Baptist minister Charles Spurgeon wrote that “The early morning hour should be dedicated to praise; do not the birds set us the example?”; this is a worthy sentiment, though a bit of a stretch if you, like me, find early mornings challenging. The songwriter Leonard Cohen also urges us to follow the birds’ example, in attitude rather than action: “The birds they sang – At the break of day – Start again – I heard them say – Don’t dwell on what has passed away – Or what is yet to be.” My favourite is a proverb – attributed variously to old Chinese wisdom or to the American author Maya Angelou – that says “A bird does not sing because it has an answer. It sings because it has a song.”

There is something inexplicably joyful in the sound of birdsong; as the nature writer and journalist Simon Barnes notes, “the sound of birds gives a deep, if sometimes almost unnoticed, pleasure.” My parents were always keen birdwatchers, and the older I get, the more I have found that there is great satisfaction to be had in some gentle birdwatching. An ecologist friend of mine has always impressed me with his ability when out on a walk to stop and say “Ooh, do you hear that? A wren!” It might as well have been “Ooh, a Russian snow bunting” for all I was able to distinguish what sort of bird it was, yet over the years I have found myself wishing that I was able to identify birds by their song as easily as he can.

Our Abbey Learner Profile places inquiry at its centre, and one of its aims is for students (and staff!) to become knowledgeable. Inspired by this, I have become determined to expand my knowledge of birdsong. Technology has been my friend in this pursuit of birding knowledge: I downloaded the Merlin Bird ID app, which allows you to make a recording when you hear a bird, and which then runs it through its system to identify the bird. As a result, I have learned that in the hedge on the side road at the Senior School, we have wrens, goldfinches and great tits and elsewhere on site we have some very territorial robins. I am also now able to identify by sound, rather than sight, the coal tits and chiff chaffs nesting in my garden. It is as if a whole new world of sound has opened up to me, and while there is still a great deal to learn, these first steps into the world of birdsong have been rather magical.

I am lucky enough to be travelling this summer with a group of intrepid Sixth Form students on the biannual Outdoor Education Expedition to Kenya. One of the great joys of school trips, and our Outdoor Education trips in particular, is partnering with students as they grow and learn in the wider world, the ‘class without walls’. This trip offers our students the opportunity to engage fully with another aspect of our Learner Profile: risk-taking. We believe that the trip will help our students to learn to approach uncertainty with forethought and determination, and to work independently and cooperatively in a range of different environments. We will be on expedition for two weeks, during which time students will take part in conservation projects, engage with local communities and culture, and undertake a challenging five-day trek up Mount Kenya, which promises to be an unforgettable high-altitude adventure.

Along the way, we will see a huge range of endemic plants and unique wildlife and, of particular interest to me, birdlife. As part of our aim to engage fully with the world around us on the trip, we will be keeping mobile phone use to a bare minimum and so Merlin will be inaccessible to me. Instead, to help me on my birdwatching journey, my mother has given me the book she used when we lived there in my childhood, Birds of East Africa, and while I fear I may not find a place for it in my rucksack, I am excited to have the opportunity to use it; one student has already offered to lend me her binoculars to help me in my learning journey. It is moments and opportunities like this that demonstrate what a special community The Abbey is: one in which staff and students come together to take risks, to inquire into new things, and to become more knowledgeable – even about something as simple and unnoticed as birdsong.

Ms Anna Brunskill, Assistant Head