Stamford man Phil Rudkin has been recording the sounds of nature for 56 years with Rutland Natural History Society

He is quick to spell out how engaging the hobby has been for him and happily declares he has "never met a person interested in nature who is nasty".

As well as heading out to record bird song as the sun rises, Phil and fellow members of the society regularly collate their sightings - and sounds - to chart the rise or decline of different species in Rutland.

The importance of this, says Phil, is in revealing how the natural world is being affected by human factors and climate change.

One noticeable pattern is that the migration dates of some birds have altered by nearly a month because of warmer temperatures, while some populations that were tiny only 50 years ago now overwinter locally in much larger numbers because Britain is "a nation of bird feeders".

Some of these changes have been music to Phil's ears. A favourite birdsong of his is that of the blackcap, a greyish bird with darker feathers over the top of its head, which is also known as the 'northern warbler'.

"Its song is pure music," said Phil, smiling at the thought of the sound. "It starts simply and builds into a melody that rises and falls, and has what I would call a 'coda ending' just like in music."

Thanks to records kept by Rutland Natural History Society and similar groups that span England, it is known that the blackcap has changed its migration pattern and many more are spending winter here.

As well as charting the spectrum of birds, insects and other creatures that are found in Rutland, Phil has carried out in-depth studies and one he is most fond of looked at woodpeckers in the county.

Just three species live in the UK - the green woodpecker, the great spotted woodpecker, and the much rarer lesser spotted woodpecker.

With friend and photographer David Needham kitted out in camouflage, Phil gathered information on Rutland's woodpeckers through a survey that continued over several years and involved capturing their sounds and images.

Describing such unpaid work as a 'labour of love', Phil said the green woodpecker is a feathered rival to the blackcap for his affections.

"They are fantastic characters and you usually hear them rather than see them because they 'yaffle' - they give off a loud laughing sound - as well as making that distinct drumming as their beaks tap on tree trunks," he said.

Knowing the call of a woodpecker is a far cry from Phil's day job, before he retired.

Having started out as a mechanic at Motors and Tractors Ltd in Station Road, Stamford, Phil hung up his overalls and moved to the dealership's customer service department, later working at Allis Chalmers in Essendine, and TC Harrison in Stamford.

Phil married Angela in 1963 and the couple moved into a new home off Hambleton Road in Stamford in 1965. Angela worked at Boots the chemist, and the couple raised children, Steve, who now runs Steve Rudkin Electrical Contractors, and Amanda, who spent several years in Australia and who now lives in Barcelona.

It was fairly soon after he and Angela married that Phil spotted an article in the Stamford Mercury about a meeting in Oakham to discuss forming a new bird club.

"I didn't know anyone there, so didn't go," laughed Phil, who was in his early 20s at the time.

"But a year later I walked into Stamford Library and Laurence Tebbutt, the curator back then, had books on birds and stuffed birds all over the place. He saw I was looking at them and told me to go to Ketton and find a house where a lady called Mrs Green lived, and that she would be able to introduce me to the new 'bird group'.

"When I met her, she told me about the group and said they needed some youngsters!"

Rutland Natural History Society is not strictly 'a bird club', with members interested in all sorts of native flora and fauna.

Last year, Phil published a book titled The Orthoptera of Rutland - orthoptera being the order of insects that includes grasshoppers and crickets. With colour photographs illustrating each species, and Rutland-shaped charts to identify the locations in which they have been found, the 32-page volume is particularly informative for anyone wanting to delve more deeply into wildlife watching.

But it is the sound recording aspect of the hobby which has really fascinated Phil over the years.

"I went on my first 'dawn chorus' field study in 1967 in Morkery Wood near Stretton," he said.

"We were there for a 3.30am start and as the sound built up and people were rushing over with their recordings it really caught my imagination. It was magic!"

From then on Phil was hooked and continued to take part in and eventually lead the dawn chorus surveys for decades, as well as carrying out years of data-gathering in areas such as Quarry Farm north of Stamford, now earmarked for a development of 350 homes.

Phil's time with the club has been captured not just through his findings and reports, but in photographs of society members out in the field.

Wearing distinctive headphones and carrying a sound recorder, microphone and large parabolic reflector, Phil appears in several shots charting their adventures and has awards to his name for sound recordings of birds, seals, frogs and insects. He has also been photographed with country-loving TV presenter Phil Drabble, and worked with naturalist and broadcaster Tony Soper on an episode of his BBC TV show, Go Birding.

It was these memories and many more that helped fellow Rutland Natural History Society members produce a special 'Life and Times of Phil Rudkin' presentation at a recent meeting, an event which left Phil lost for words - although he admits, only momentarily.

"I thought it was fabulous," he said. "Just amazing."

Rutland Natural History Society welcomes new members of all ages. To join visit www.rnhs.org.uk