If it repeats the same phrase three times in a row, it could be a Song Thrush. They can be difficult to see when they're singing - for example, when I was living in Northenden, there was a Song Thrush that emitted some very loud and startling 'car alarm'-like notes. This 'car alarm Thrush' took me quite a while to spot, even though it was obviously very close by. In the end, I found it hunkered down in a tree.

As Bernard says, Starlings are good mimics, as I found out when I recently heard one do a very passable imitation of a Curlew!

This evenings Springwatch had a Starling doing a very good mimic of a car alarm.

Car alarm could be a Nuthatch - have a look in the RSPB website at their sound clips, I think it's likely, but they are year-round birds rather than migrants. Just a thought.

Hi Bev. Unfortunately identifying birds from a written description of its song or call is (in my experience anyway) nigh on impossible in the majority of cases. Have a look in a field guide at the description of a song/call of bird you are familiar with and see if you could identify it from the written description! Maybe someone can offer a suggestion or two but I'm afraid I can't help.

We live near the canal and have a variety of trees, shrubs etc locally and there is one bird that comes back every year in Springtime, I have never seen the bird but the first time I heard its call 3 years ago I thought it was a car alarm going off. It is just a constant call (I can't call it a song) with only several seconds space between the notes. I would love any help identifying what this bird is, even though I can't see it . Also this bird is not part of the dawn chorus, I don't know if that helps in any identifying process. And thank you for any insight or imformation.