Hi Sue… I’m sure we’ll get to the bottom of it. I’ve listened to RSPB etc and their offerings are nothing like the noise that I hear - issuing from the birds I am watching. But that is nothing new. There are a wide variety of noises from every bird depending on their situation and attitude at the time. Bird Song is quite a different thing.
Just found this website and there’s a recording of a black redstart warning call and it’s much faster than the three clicks I’m hearing. Just love what is being put on the web these days!
Thanks for the suggestions and apologies, I’ve just listened to the FEMALE alarm call on the above recording and it has some similarities with what I’m hearing - though still more continuous than the intermittent 3 clicks my bird is giving. So thanks, unless anyone has other thoughts, I’ll admit I’ve been too quick to dismiss your suggestions and accept it’s a female black redstart giving an alarm call.
Sue - there are so many different songs/calls whatever - it’s a nightmare trying to identify with certainty. 
What is growing in the field - could it be a corncrake ?
Hi Stella, thanks for the latest suggestion. I don’t think so, just listened and it sounds too much like a watch being wound up! We need a notation for bird calls like there are notes for music. It would then be much easier to look them up. The field has got ripe wheat. I also heard the same sound among the sunflowers on the other side of our garden
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They nest in my woodpile, under my auvent, in my pilesof flowerpots - I hear that alarm call quite a lot because of the cats, people don’t seem to set them off as much.
Sounds like yours are much closer to you Vero. Normally we don’t have alarm calls from them, only the full-blown calls that are so distinctive. I wonder what’s making her anxious? Our dogs keep our garden (and the land beyond) cat-free and in all the years they’ve been nesting here they never worry about the dogs.
I’ve recorded a longer stretch this morning and I’m wondering now whether it’s a bird at all, or whether it’s a frog? Mind you, not our usual tree frog sounds.
If anyone has the stamina to watch / listen, firstly apologies for the shaky camera work at the beginning! The moments when you can hear this noise are roughly; 26 secs, 46 secs, 1.01 min, 1.15 min, 1.27 min 1.38 min, 2.08 min, 2.23 min
Thanks for any further thoughts /suggestions - this is really bugging me now!
Bird or Frog?
It is also described as ball bearings clashing together.
For those of you who might be interested … at last I have an answer. I contacted the RSPB website and someone has been able to tell me. The sound we can hear from the wheatfield is that of the common quail. 
Common Quail
We’ve had partridges around here for years but this is the first summer I’ve heard quail
They are about to harvest. I hope the quail will be alright.
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