Nightingale
The Nightingale is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. Slightly larger than the Robin, it is plain brown above except for the reddish tail and buff to white below. The sexes are similar.
The Nightingale is a migratory insectivorous bird breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south west Asia and wintering in west Africa. The distribution is more southerly than the very closely related Thrush Nightingale.
In the UK the bird is at the northern limit of its range which has contracted in recent years placing it on the Amber List for conservation. Despite local efforts to safeguard its favoured coppice and scrub habitat, numbers fell by 53% between 1995 and 2008. A survey conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology in 2012 and 2013 recorded some 3,300 territories with most of these clustered in a few counties in the south east of England, notably Kent, Essex, Suffolk and East and West Sussex. By contrast, the European breeding population is estimated at between 3.2 and 7 million pairs, giving it green conservation status (least concern).
The song of the Nightingale has been described as one of the most beautiful sounds in nature, inspiring songs, fairy tales, opera, books and a great deal of poetry. The Nightingales is so named because it frequently sings at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for more than 1,000 years, being highly recognisable even in its Old English form nihtgale which means "night songstress". Early writers assumed the female sang when it is in fact the male. The song is loud with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing. This is why its name includes "night" in several languages. Only unpaired males sing regularly at night and nocturnal song is likely to serve to attract a mate. Singing at dawn, during the hour before sunrise, is assumed to be important in defending the bird's territory. Nightingales sing even more loudly in urban or near-urban environments in order to overcome the background noise.
Date: 8th April 2024
Location: RSPB Canvey Wick, Canvey Island, Essex
The Nightingale is a migratory insectivorous bird breeding in forest and scrub in Europe and south west Asia and wintering in west Africa. The distribution is more southerly than the very closely related Thrush Nightingale.
In the UK the bird is at the northern limit of its range which has contracted in recent years placing it on the Amber List for conservation. Despite local efforts to safeguard its favoured coppice and scrub habitat, numbers fell by 53% between 1995 and 2008. A survey conducted by the British Trust for Ornithology in 2012 and 2013 recorded some 3,300 territories with most of these clustered in a few counties in the south east of England, notably Kent, Essex, Suffolk and East and West Sussex. By contrast, the European breeding population is estimated at between 3.2 and 7 million pairs, giving it green conservation status (least concern).
The song of the Nightingale has been described as one of the most beautiful sounds in nature, inspiring songs, fairy tales, opera, books and a great deal of poetry. The Nightingales is so named because it frequently sings at night as well as during the day. The name has been used for more than 1,000 years, being highly recognisable even in its Old English form nihtgale which means "night songstress". Early writers assumed the female sang when it is in fact the male. The song is loud with an impressive range of whistles, trills and gurgles. Its song is particularly noticeable at night because few other birds are singing. This is why its name includes "night" in several languages. Only unpaired males sing regularly at night and nocturnal song is likely to serve to attract a mate. Singing at dawn, during the hour before sunrise, is assumed to be important in defending the bird's territory. Nightingales sing even more loudly in urban or near-urban environments in order to overcome the background noise.
Date: 8th April 2024
Location: RSPB Canvey Wick, Canvey Island, Essex
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