Mystery call in Forest of Dean (1 Viewer)

[Phil_Callagher]

Hi, this is a general appeal for help with identifying a (bird?) call, recorded by my colleague in the Forest of Dean, at 15:14pm, 29th August.

I'm not technically competent so I can only get this recording onto an M4A file which is inside the attached zipped folder - it won't upload the file direct.

There was no sign of the bird but the disyllabic call was coming from the trees. Sounds like some kind of owl?

Many thanks in advance,

Phil Callagher, Scarborough

 

[RichieTwitchy]

Sorry I can't put my finger on it Phil, but I've converted your file to an easy listenable mp3 - hope that's okay.

The call/s is made at the start of the audio and near the end when you can hear someone splashing through a puddle.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

First: thanks Richie for converting the file!

Hello Phil,

when I write your recording seems somewhat harsh to me, then you know this isnt meant as an offense. I regular have difficulties to match recordings here and elsewhere to birdsounds I regular hear in the field. And I still struggle to give reasons (some kind of excuse? I dont hope so)

When taking this point into account, your bird might well be a Ronin.

edit: no, I dont want to describe a species new to science: I wanted to write Robin

 

[Butty]

Lots of weird noises + (quite possibly) a singing robin.

 

[RichieTwitchy]

I've edited the 2-note sound I think Phil is talking about.

It's deeper than the Robin song and sounds like OO AHH

 

[foresttwitcher]

Makes me think of a Scops Owl.

 

[Alexander Stöhr]

Hello again,

I can't exclude a Scops Owl, but it sounds like some kind of Amphibian to me. With Common Midwife Toad the usual suspect (introduced/escaped in Britain), but the two note call seems unusual to me. A quick google search seems to support this, but I am far from an expert in amphibian calls.

But like always I hope the crowd intelligence of the members here might well result in a confident ID. Thanks!

 

[dwatsonbirder]

Hi @Phil_Callagher it sounds quite interesting, I think Alex may be onto something with a non-native amphibian, but I don't know of any in the area (the nearest are Pool frog on the Somerset levels). If you're happy to drop me a PM with the location, I'd be happy to check it out one evening - I'm in the FoD.

 

[cafe birder]

It's just possible that this is a corvid of some kind. Possibly Raven. I've heard them give a range of very weird calls including bell-like ones

 

[Phil_Callagher]

Hi, just to say, many thanks to everyone for all the suggestions. Personally I'm still stumped by this call. I can't help wondering if it will turn out to be some escaped exotic cage bird!