Can't see any bird Queenie.

Why not ask question on Ispyabird which is the sister site of GOY if you get my drift.

From the way you describe the call it sounds like a house sparrow, try Googling that.

think you may be right Mg, there is a noisy little bu**ar keeps waking me up every morning at day break, but at least its nice to know they are holding their ground against the pigeons and magpies, that we seem to have an abundant population of

Thanks guys... I will investigate further, not convinced about the sparrow, my son has these in abundance and it's not the same. I am now going to record it on my phone... see if I can download it to an interested party!

If its a loud 'chip' noise, often repeated with a few seconds in between, it might well be a woodpecker - the Lesser Spotted one. I get those here, and I always know when he's about because of that loud 'chip' sound he makes. I think you can listen to it on line if you google lesser spotted woodpecker call... You often hear them but don't see them - they're very nervy birds, the slightest movement and they're off.