Birds, Bats & Mammals Identified by Sound in the Peak District
Our microphones listen around the clock here in the Peak District National Park, and every bird call, bat and animal sound they pick up is identified automatically and logged on this page. Below you can see what we've heard today, who started singing first in the dawn chorus, and every species heard this month, along with how each one is doing on the UK's Red, Amber and Green lists.
This is a scientific project I started in October 2026, to build up a comprehensive list of the species I can identify here in the Peak District, season by season and year by year. I hope you find it useful, whether you're a keen birdwatcher, just curious about what's singing outside, or trying to put a name to a sound you've heard.
Tap Day or Month to switch views, and use the arrows to look back through earlier days. Every bird and bat has a short "About this bird" note, so you can find out what to listen for.
Our most-heard birds
Over the last 30 days, from every call our microphones picked up
Top 10 most-heard birds
Species heard, by conservation list
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Bar colours show each bird's status: ■ Green, ■ Amber, ■ Red list.
Birds and bats heard in the Peak District
Each dot on the bar shows when a call was heard during the day.
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How we identify birds by their sound
Several of our live cameras have microphones, and we've added an ultrasonic microphone that can hear bats. The sound from each one is analysed by artificial intelligence trained on hundreds of thousands of recordings: BirdNET, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and Chemnitz University of Technology, and Google's Perch model, which also recognises mammals, frogs and insects. Bats are identified by BattyBirdNET, which listens to their echolocation calls, far too high-pitched for us to hear.
I run the identification models myself on a small Raspberry Pi 5 computer here at home, listening to all the microphones at once, 24 hours a day. Whenever it recognises a bird, bat or animal, the details are uploaded automatically to the barnowl.live website, which is how this page stays up to date without anyone typing anything in.
Only confident identifications are logged, and each species is checked against what's likely in the Peak District at that time of year. Like any automatic system it sometimes gets things wrong, so I keep an eye on anything unusual. If you spot something that looks odd, do let me know in the chat.
The places you'll see in the list are our listening spots: Badger Wood, a woodland camera that also watches our badgers and foxes after dark, DuckPond by the water, and BigOak, home to the bat microphone.
Birds you can hear in the Peak District through the year
🌱 Spring
The dawn chorus builds from March and peaks in May, starting about an hour before sunrise. Summer visitors arrive from Africa: chiffchaffs and willow warblers in the woods, cuckoos, redstarts and pied flycatchers, while curlews and lapwings call over the moors.
☀️ Summer
Swifts scream over the villages and house martins nest under the eaves. Song slowly fades as birds get busy feeding their young, but you'll hear plenty of begging calls from fledglings, and bats are at their busiest on warm evenings.
🍂 Autumn
Redwings and fieldfares arrive from Scandinavia, often heard passing overhead at night. Tawny owls are at their noisiest as young owls look for territories, and on the moors red deer stags roar during the rut.
❄️ Winter
Robins and wrens keep singing even on frosty mornings. Mixed flocks of tits roam the woods, woodcock arrive from the Continent, and foxes call through the long nights as their breeding season begins.
Owls and birds of prey of the Peak District
Owls are some of the most exciting sounds our microphones pick up, and you can watch our barn owls and tawny owls live on the cameras.
| Species | Where and when | What to listen for |
|---|---|---|
| 🦉 Barn owl | Rough grassland and farmland, hunting mostly at night | A long, eerie shriek; hisses and snores at the nest |
| 🦉 Tawny owl | Woodland all year, noisiest in autumn | The "twit-twoo" duet: a sharp "ke-wick" and a wavering "hoo-hoo-hooo" |
| 🦉 Little owl | Farmland, stone walls and old barns, often by day | A plaintive, rising "kee-ew" |
| 🦉 Long-eared owl | Dense trees by day, rough ground at night | A soft, low "oo"; young owls squeak like a creaky gate |
| 🦉 Short-eared owl | Open moorland, often hunting in daylight | Mostly silent, but barks and wing-claps in spring |
| 🦅 Buzzard | Over the hills and valleys all year | A mewing "pee-yow", like a cat |
| 🦅 Kestrel | Hovering over verges, fields and moor edges | A shrill, repeated "kee-kee-kee" |
| 🦅 Peregrine | Gritstone edges and old quarries | A harsh, scolding "kek-kek-kek" near the nest |
Bats of the Peak District
Bats call at frequencies far above human hearing, so we use a special microphone that records sound up to 192 kHz. They're most active from April to October, coming out around sunset to hunt moths, midges and beetles, and they hibernate through the winter. Bats you might find here include the common and soprano pipistrelle, noctule, Leisler's bat, brown long-eared bat, Daubenton's bat over water, and Natterer's, whiskered and Brandt's bats. All British bats and their roosts are protected by law.
Mammals you might hear
It isn't just birds. Red deer stags roar on the moors during the autumn rut, roe deer give a gruff, dog-like bark, foxes scream on winter nights, and badgers snuffle and squabble around their setts after dark. You can watch our badgers and foxes on the BadgerWood camera.
🎧 Listen for yourself: the best time to hear the most birds is the hour around sunrise, especially from March to June. Turn the sound on in our live cameras and see how many you can pick out.
Learn more
- 🔴 UK Red, Amber and Green list birds
- 🦉 Barn owl facts: over 100 questions answered
- 🌳 Tawny owl facts
- 🎥 All our live wildlife cameras
- 🛠️ How I make barn owl nest boxes from whisky barrels
- ❓ Test yourself with our wildlife quiz
Questions people ask
What birds can you hear in the Peak District in winter?
Robins and wrens sing right through the winter, and you'll hear blackbirds, tits, jackdaws and crows every day. Redwings and fieldfares arrive from Scandinavia in autumn, woodcock come from the Continent, and tawny owls call through the long nights.
When is the dawn chorus?
The dawn chorus starts about an hour before sunrise and is at its best from March to June, peaking in May. On this page, the dawn chorus panel shows which birds started singing first each morning.
How are the birds identified?
Microphones on our cameras send their sound to BirdNET and Google's Perch, artificial intelligence models that recognise species from their calls and songs. Bats are identified from their echolocation calls by BattyBirdNET, using an ultrasonic microphone.
What equipment do you use?
The microphones on our wildlife cameras, plus an AudioMoth ultrasonic microphone for bats, all feed a Raspberry Pi 5 that runs the identification software, BirdNET-Go, around the clock. It uploads each detection to this website automatically.
Is the list of birds live?
Yes. New detections appear within a few minutes, and the page refreshes itself every five minutes.
What bats live in the Peak District?
Common and soprano pipistrelles are the most widespread, along with noctules, brown long-eared bats and Daubenton's bats near water. Natterer's, whiskered, Brandt's and Leisler's bats are found here too.
When do red deer rut in the Peak District?
The rut runs from late September into November, peaking in October. Stags roar to show off and challenge rivals, and the sound carries a long way across the moors.
If you're interested in more information about how it all works, drop me a line using the contact form. Cheers,
Paul 🦉