I was recording nightingales in the forest last night and got the feeling I was being watched. I turned round and this young tawny chick was perched on a branch about twenty five yards away.
Nightingale
Ancient Oak
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.
Another nightingale
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
The cuckoo and the nightingale in Southwick Forest at 9pm on 5 May
Owls
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 on May Morning
A nightingale I unexpectedly heard (and could just about see) in Short Wood at first light this morning. Happy Dawn Chorus Day!
Bluebells
Gilbert White’s Brown Owls
A new track created with Faradena Afifi. It started with a recording I made of two Tawny Owls in the forest, then we added music and I read excerpts from Gilbert White’s 18th Century writings “The Natural History of Selborne”
Reed Warbler
First Nightingale
First nightingale of spring singing in Southwick Forest last night.
Kingfisher at Barnwell
Concentration
It’s been a while…
Cygnet feathers
After the rain
Kestrel in the sun
A jewel
On the Wharf House
By the bridge
Picture of the year!
On the metal!
Robin and thin ice
Late late butterfly
Autumnal kingfisher
Fungus
Cormorant tree .2
Swallows have left
Sundown in the forest
Twilight with a nightingale and cuckoo in Southwick Forest a couple of nights ago. Sometimes they finish singing in early June, but this year’s slow spring looks to have extended the season. I’d be happy if they never stop but it’s actually good news as it means the chicks have fledged.
I was visited by a hare and a badger in the time I spent making this recording. The original is 14 minutes long which is a good length when you are trying to capture pristine natural sounds. The difficulty isn’t always with the intrusion of manmade sounds though. It was a warm night and the insects were so loud close to the microphones that it wasn’t till about 9.45 pm that I could get a clear recording of what I actually wanted to hear!
Banded Demoiselles
May Day sunrise, Southwick Wood
May Day sunrise in a very still Southwick Wood this morning. Don’t forget to put up the volume to hear the birdsong too….
First Nightingale!
Willow Warbler and Song Thrush
Some welcome sounds from Glapthorn Cow Pasture early this morning. No sign of a nightingale yet, though some may have already crossed the Channel and they could arrive here any time in the next week or so (fingers crossed!) The first clip features the lovely freewheeling sound of newly arrived Willow Warblers – a wise old man of the woods once told me that when you heard your first Willow Warbler then you really could say that spring was here. Then there’s a clip of a Song Thrush in full flow. It doesn’t quite have the tonal quality and variety of its cousin the nightingale but this is a lovely strong singer who has found the ideal spot in the tall, thin ash trees to enhance his voice, ably accompanied by Chiffchaff and Wood Pigeons.
A swan dance
A beautiful balletic courtship dance by a pair of swans between Oundle and Cotterstock this morning. I couldn’t resist putting some music with it when I got home, so if you want to hear it don’t forget to put the sound up a little.
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Kingfisher in a hurry
A kingfisher among the twigs and branches this morning. A split second later it took off, circled twice showing the blue of its back then the orange of its belly as it banked, then whizzed of upstream at full speed. It looked like it wouldn’t land again till it got to the bridge a few hundred yards away.
Kingfisher by the bridge
Woodpecker 2
Greater Spotted Woodpecker at work by the river between Oundle and Cotterstock this morning. I saw a Red Kite take a fish from the river just after videoing this. I looked it up when I got home because I didn’t quite believe what I was seeing, and they do feed on dead or dying fish. It was certainly a first for me!
Woodpecker 1
Mist in the Meadows
There was a misty hush in the meadows near Cotterstock Lock this morning – I loved the gentle sound of the water flowing past this old pollarded willow. (make sure to turn the sound up)
By the bridge
Kingfisher videos from 2014
A Year by the River – 2020
A compilation of video clips made by the river in 2020 with music I wrote specially for it.
A shining bright star on a gloomy grey morning
Another beauty!
“Thank you Nick, received nightingale cd today, great quality and lovely sounds
Many Thanks”
Justin
very peaceful, very calming
“I have received your harp and nightingales CD, thank you. It is beautiful, very peaceful, very calming – whilst I was listening to it in our summer house on Sunday afternoon I was watching two blackbirds feeding their babies in a rather dense ivy bush, not five feet from where I was sitting, perfect.” Suzanne
Great quality and lovely sounds
“Thank you Nick, received nightingale cd today, great quality and lovely sounds
Many Thanks”
Justin
Thank you so much for everything
“Thank you so much for everything. The children LOVED the day with you.” Technology coordinator, St John’s College school, Cambridge
I just wanted to say another BIG thank you for today
“I just wanted to say another BIG thank you for today. Apparently the reception children didn’t stop talking about you all afternoon! We must do it again soon.” Music coordinator, William Law Cof E Primary School
Heading south
I heard a blackcap singing quietly deep in a hedge on Sunday, a willow warbler yesterday and three chiffchaffs by the river today. They were all in places where I didn’t hear those species in spring. I’m guessing that they’re passing through on their way south…..
A year on the riverbank
Twelve short videos of the same scene on the River Nene between Oundle and Cotterstock – the changing sights and sounds of the seasons in a three-minute year.
Nightingales in late June
I would expect nightingales to finish singing locally around the end of the first week in June. This year there are still three singing regularly in the forest above Southwick. I recorded this nightingale last night at around 10.30pm, when the only other sounds were the lambs on the other side of the valley.
Harp and birdsong
Southwick Wood
First nightingale

Amazing starling sounds
I heard these amazing sounds coming from my roof space. At first I thought that an old battery-powered toy fire engine had somehow started up on its own, but then realised it was two starlings sitting right on top of the hatch. I reached up with a handheld recorder to record the sounds of cars starting, alarms, fire-engines…..an extraordinary display of mimicry.
First Blackbird
At 5pm I set out for a walk towards the river – it was mild and the evening light seemed suddenly to have come back. From a rooftop near Snipe Meadows there was a blackbird in full song! What a glorious sound….
Snow on snow
The birds have fallen into a deep winter hush. Only a few fieldfares were clacking as I tramped through the snow towards Biggin Hall. The ruined barn where a barnowI buzzed me back in 2008 has been done up as a shooting lodge, and the owls will have to find a new place to roost in spring. It has a lovely view looking across to Glapthorn and Short Wood on the other side of the valley, and I was very taken by the door bell.
Early spring signs
A mild and foggy morning by the river, with lots of birdsong for the time of year.
Yesterday I saw two robins fighting in the garden, dunnocks scrapping in the bottom of a hedgerow near Snipe meadow, and some very excitable greattits near the recreation ground. This morning at 9am a songthrush was singing in a nearby garden, as he has done for a week now. On a trip to North London in the afternoon I heard a few notes of a blackbird in full song – spring seems to be coming very early….
Wheeling on the wind
The first gales in a long time came roaring from the south. Geese flew in a great circle over Snipe meadow, and a single lapwing called as it rose against the wind. A songthrush took off from a tree near the boathouse and wheeled round and round the flooded meadow as if glorying in its own energy and strength.
Muntjac calls
A few weeks ago I was surprised to see two muntjac deer at the edge of Snipe Meadow and managed to get a photo of one before they both melted into the hedgerow. At 6pm today I was passing Glapthorn Cow Pasture and popped in for a few moments to listen for tawny owls. A muntjacdeer started barking as soon as I opened the gate. Hard to reconcile the sound with its small size and timidity, especially on your own in the dark!
Christmas Geese
A beautiful light
A lovely hazy Sunday, the noon sun just beginning to warm through the morning frost. At the edge of Southwick forest a songthrush suddenly broke into full song. There was too much background noise to make recordings so I took some photos instead. The red kite’s forked tail was picked out by the sunlight as he watched me walk back down the hill.
Birdsong CD
Goldcrests
Walking above Southwick I came across half a dozen goldcrests (a “charm” of goldcrests?) twittering away in a thicket. They were hard to spot but not at all shy when it came to singing.
Ludwig and the nightingale
I sent some of of my birdsong CDs to a customer in Hong Kong. He emailed back with a lovely recording he’d made of an Asian magpie robin called Ludwig, duetting with a nightingale from one of the CDs. Ludwig & Nightingale Duet