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.

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!

Southwick Wood, 6am

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”

They’ve been back for a while, but it’s lovely to hear the sweet scratchy syncopations of reed warblers along the edge of Snipe Meadow again…. the bird world’s version of an African drummer

First nightingale of spring singing in Southwick Forest last night.

At Barnwell Country Park this afternoon. Just to make the experience even more special, the sound of church bells was drifting across from Stoke Doyle/Wadenhoe.

At Barnwell country park

I’d not seen a kingfisher for a couple of weeks and was beginning to feel bereft, but the river rose overnight and the floods may have made fishing difficult elsewhere, so this female was back by north bridge this afternoon. Fingers crossed that she’ll set up with a mate somewhere nearby.

Kestrel in the sun by the river this morning. As well as the bird itself, it’s remarkable that there are so many insects showing in this photo on the first day in February.

A jewel

This is a favourite perch at the moment, right up on the roof guttering of the Wharf House. From that height she builds up enough speed to dive deep into the water where the small fish lurk.

Taken from North Bridge with the frozen meadows in the background this morning.

On part of the old wharf by the bridge this morning. I’ve been waiting all year for this shot – had to lean a long way over the bridge parapet to get it!

A hard frost last night, thin ice along the cut by the bridge. This robin was foraging in tree holes.

A couple of days ago I decided winter had finally arrived, then yesterday we went back into an extended mild autumn. I was amazed to see this peacock butterfly in the meadow near Cotterstock. Not far away a song thrush was singing in the sun for the sheer joy of living.

Autumnal kingfisher by Cotterstock Lock this afternoon.

I came across this beautiful fungus in the spinney this morning – shaggy scaly cap, apparently. Whatever, it makes a good snapshot of the forest floor at this time of year.

Cormorant drying its wings in the sun near Cotterstock lock this morning.

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 are having a wonderful year – I’ve never seen so many. Their irridescent blue reminds me of kingfishers.

May Day sunrise in a very still Southwick Wood this morning. Don’t forget to put up the volume to hear the birdsong too….

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 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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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.

Lovely to see a kingfisher this afternoon against the backdrop of Oundle’s beautiful stone bridge. It was perched opposite the town boat club and I was further along the cut towards the river, so the house in the background is right back in King’s Road.

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!

I always look for a kingfisher in this small dead tree by the river, so a bright patch of red that shapeshifted into a Greater Spotted Woodpecker was a nice surprise this morning! Really unusual not to be craning my neck when I see one – this was at head height.

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)

A sight to gladden the heart by Oundle’s north bridge this morning.

A compilation of video clips made by the river in 2020 with music I wrote specially for it.