Come rain or shine, most evenings and sometimes throughout the day, two songthrushes sing several metres apart.

However, they both elude me because by the time I walk around to try and locate them they have either stopped performing or moved to another location.

This is what my favourite avian songsters tend to do. They fly around within a given territory singing at chosen spots, usually at the apex of a tall tree.

Although conforming to a general pattern so we can identify which species is singing, not every individual sings identically with some performing more beautifully and with more variation than others.

These two local bird's songs are especially striking and rich in a variety of repeated phrases.

By contrast, blackbirds, singing well this spring, use various heights within foliage or sometimes sing from rooftops or chimney pots.

One late March afternoon I strolled by the Thames alongside Ham and what did I hear? Two songthrushes singing in different locations well apart.! Once again I followed the melodies but once again they moved around as I neared their positions and proved to be as frustrating as my local birds.

But it is good to know that however elusive, at least these four birds are around as the species has been in steady decline for some time.