On Sunday morning, as most of the town slept silently, 22 wildlife fans put on their wellies to find the only group of Watford residents happy to be making noise at 5am - the birds of Cassiobury Park.
Marking International Dawn Chorus Day with a two hour walk, the team assembled on the park's Rustic Bridge, stopping to admire the animals and plants recently engraved on it.
As the walk began, woodpeckers, wrens, black caps, tawny owls and herons were among the sights and sounds greeting the group, led by Robert Hopkins of the Herts & Middlesex Wildlife Trust from woodland to stream-side clearing.
A wealth of sounds filled the air from start to finish, and as Robert identified each new sound, binoculars drew eyes towards its often impressive origin.
He said: "I was absolutely delighted with the amount of people we had. You never know with dawn chorus walks but we were lucky with the weather so that helped. Cassiobury Park is an extremely good urban site as you get quite a lot of urban birds but also the wetland birds."
Regardless of the interest created by the park's more exotic animals, including the Ring-necked Parakeets that are currently thriving in the area, Robert urged us not to ignore more familiar sights.
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He said: "If you look closely at a bird like the Great Tit, you'll find it's just as beautiful and impressive as the more tropical birds."
The walk through Cassiobury Park was one of around 250 similar events taking place in the UK during the bank holiday weekend.
One walker said: "It's unusual to get up at 4.30am on a Sunday to do something like this but I've enjoyed it. It's been very interesting."
The Wildlife Trust regularly works with Watford Borough Council, the Friends of Cassiobury Park and volunteers to maintain the park and look after its wildlife. For more information visit www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/herts
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