Overview

• Monty Don responded to viewer letters complaining about what they thought was artificially enhanced birdsong by confirming on the BBC Gardeners’ World podcast that all sounds are recorded live in his garden.
• He explains that Longmeadow, his two-acre Gloucestershire garden, serves as a refuge for blackbirds, song thrushes, blackcaps and other species because neighbouring fields have been stripped of wildlife by modern farming chemicals.
• The episode featuring his comments and garden footage is scheduled to air tonight at 8pm on BBC Two.
• He describes a vibrant dawn chorus peaking between 4:15 am and 5:00 am followed by a dusk chorus around sundown.
• To attract birds, Don recommends allowing cover such as trees, hedges, shrubs, long grass, ponds and decaying logs to create a self-sustaining habitat.