A great app to help identify birds!

Merlin Bird ID is one of my favourite & most frequently used apps! I discovered it a couple of years ago, after my son who lives in rural Wales (and is lucky to have a wide variety of feathered visitors to his garden) recommended it to me.

The app works by recording and then identifying birds through the birdsong that it picks up. I often use it whilst on my lunchtime walk in a local park and rather than wondering what the bird is that’s singing away in a tree, Merlin tells me what it is. You can also use the photo ID function by taking a photo (or selecting a photo from your gallery) and the app will tell you what the bird is. However, it’s quite difficult to take a decent picture of a bird as I have discovered so I use the sound ID much more often.

These are a couple of the lists of birds that Merlin has heard and identified during some of my walks. I’ve been lucky enough to spot some of them too, I’ve seen goldfinches quite often as well as long-tailed tits and green woodpeckers.

I was quite excited to hear the Reed Buntings a few weeks ago – I was walking past a very reedy, slightly boggy area and heard a bird call that I hadn’t heard before – Merlin quickly let me now that there were Reed Buntings nearby! I’ve heard them a few times since but not been able to spot them.

Unfortunately, my photographic skills aren’t good enough to capture fast moving birds, so below are a few of my other feathered friends.

Carrion Crow

Grey Heron

The Merlin app can be downloaded from Google playstore or Apple store and best of all….it’s free!