We need to chat about nightingales, the big-nosed twilighters

Now, the Common Nightingale, as the name suggests, is quite active at night, but they do sing during the day too, but it isn’t at all common in England despite the first bit of its name. It’s a migrant species that occurs in East Anglia and the South East of England. The first place I’d heard them here was on the heathland of the Suffolk coast, during a camping trip many years ago, and then more recently on Westleton Heath, not far from NT Dunwich Heath, RSPB Minsmere, and Sizewell nuclear power station. A Nightingale, which I didn’t see nor hear, turned up on the outskirts of our South Cambridgeshire village during the lockdown summer of 2020. I’m sure others have come and gone quite often, but this week, birding friends mentioned one singing from trees at one of the crossings of the local guided busway, near Swavesey Lake. So, it’s not a long trek to get to hear the beautiful song of this summer visitor, and I’ve recorded a snippet and put it on Xeno-Canto. You may be wondering why…