Archives for May 2022

I took this image of a nightingale at Glapthorn 5 years ago – it’s still the only decent image I’ve managed to get in all the years I’ve been listening to them….

This is an ancient oak tree in the forest that’s been there for many centuries. It’s a good friend and counsellor, and I’ve been visiting it on and off for nearly four decades. The trunk measures three paces in diameter and the remains of a fallen bough stretches out for twelve paces to the side. Other fallen timbers lie around too, split along their length but still strong, like half finished struts and spars in an abandoned boat yard.

I heard another new nightingale in the forest last night, which brings the total there to nine different singers so far this year. Given that only around five thousand may make it across the channel each spring that’s an impressive amount for a smallish patch of woodland near the species’ northern limit.

The cuckoo and the nightingale in Southwick Forest at 9pm on 5 May

I’ve just been listening to two tawny owls doing high wobbly hooting, rhythmic and overlapping, one on G and the other a D below that. Never heard anything like it before. Beautiful.

A nightingale I unexpectedly heard (and could just about see) in Short Wood at first light this morning. Happy Dawn Chorus Day!