![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/naturepl_01147898_preview-1-1024x683.jpg\")
Listen <\/strong><\/em><\/h5>\n\n\n\nHear Tanya\u2019s podcast about the Singing with Nightingales experience, episode 147 of our Plodcast. countryfile.com\/podcast<\/a> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\nThe silence is palpable. We sit motionless in the dark, goosebumps on our arms, listening intently to every rustle, creak and far-off snap of twig, waiting for a tweet, a call, anything that will tell us there is a nightingale somewhere in the vicinity. Like many in this little group, it will be the first time I have ever heard one. I can hardly dare breathe for fear of scaring it off. <\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s a chilly May night in Sussex, and I\u2019m one of 15 people who have just walked half a mile through pitch-black countryside to sit on the prickly edge of a stubble field in the hope of hearing their first nightingale. But we\u2019re not just here for the birds \u2013 we\u2019re in the company of musicians who, almost unbelievably, are planning a real-life symphony with them, featuring human voices, a violin and an instrument called a shruti box. <\/p>\n\n
However, like any diva worth its salt, the nightingale is making us wait. Three metres away, a soft note from a violin slowly rises through the air, lilting and growing to a dramatic crescendo. It\u2019s my favourite kind of fiddle playing \u2013 crystal clear like the Slavic gypsy style, achingly beautiful and still with you long after it ends. To my surprise, this is followed by the full-bellied, unnuanced drone of the shruti box. But singer and author Sam Lee is an authority on both folk music and nightingales, and knows exactly what he\u2019s doing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\u201cLike any diva worth its salt, the nightingale is making us wait\u201d <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\nThe hedgerow, however, remains silent. Sam begins to sing unaccompanied and I listen with a twinge of sadness. Nightingales have been all but wiped out in the UK, with a 90% population decline in the past 50 years. With rising temperatures in their winter home of north-west Africa affecting their food supplies, and their scrubland habitat being gradually erased from the British landscape, it seems inevitable that nightingales will become extinct here. The quieter they are tonight, the more heartbreaking this feels. <\/p>\n\n
But then Sam\u2019s song ends \u2013 and something remarkable happens. <\/p>\n\n
A burst of rapid chirruping fires out from the shadow of the trees as our nightingale finally answers: acrobatic, melodic and very much alive. <\/p>\n\n
My spirits lift. The nightingale has not gone yet. <\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/IMG_3813_preview-1024x768.jpg\")
Rewilding has produced the habitat in which nightingales thrive, of woodland interspersed with thickets of dense scrub<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/IMG_3811_preview-1024x768.jpg\")
Sam imparts his extensive nightingale knowledge <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\nWILD SONGS OF SPRING <\/strong><\/h5>\n\nI\u2019m here on a Singing with Nightingales experience, led each spring by Sam Lee on a farm in Sussex \u2013 a location kept secret. This farm has a long-term rewilding vision. Right now, the coppiced beech forest is filled with bluebells, yellow primulas and wood anemones, which feed hundreds of varieties of butterflies and other important insects that are struggling elsewhere. It is a haven for little birds, especially passerine songbirds \u2013 with tits, thrushes, finches, sparrows and blackcaps flitting around fearlessly. <\/p>\n\n
Around 15 of us arrived in the early afternoon and pitched up on the off-grid campsite. Sam led us on a walk around the farm, talking about its biodiversity. It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve met Sam \u2013 we were both musicians on the London folk scene years ago \u2013 but this is a side of him I\u2019ve never seen before. His 2021 book, The <\/em>Nightingale, <\/em>is a well-researched text about the increasingly elusive bird, but he also has a wealth of knowledge about many other native birds. I learn more about listening to and identifying birdsong in this hour-long wander than any book could teach me. Later, we gathered for dinner by the fire, ready for an evening of nightingale stories, facts and music. Tonight\u2019s guest musician is Anna Phoebe, a concert violinist who is here for an experience she wouldn\u2019t get at Cadogan Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/IMG_3824_preview-1024x768.jpg\")
Sam Lee leads a walk around the woods before sunset<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\nWe squeezed on to benches with the rest of the group: I chatted to a mother and son who had flown in from Spain, a group of outdoorsy-looking older women, and a couple of minor celebrities I recognised from the 1990s. What unites us all, visually at least, is a lack of branded clothing \u2013 we had all been asked to wear wool, to minimise any rustling. Similarly, to bring our night vision up to full capacity for the walk to the nightingale site, we\u2019d been asked to turn off all devices and artificial light. <\/p>\n\n
Sam cleared the chatter by breaking into a ballad, amiably dismissing the clapping that followed. \u201cSometimes the silences that hang after the nightingale song, and these old songs, are as much a part of the song itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\nAs the wall between performers and audience was removed, centuries suddenly fell away. Now we were among our Neolithic ancestors, sitting in a woodland that we\u2019d coppiced for fuel and tools, speaking and singing around a large crackling fire, surrounded by the native birds that were once prolific on this island. <\/p>\n\n
When the time came to walk to the site, communicating only through whistles, this new primal connection didn\u2019t let us down. No one tripped or got lost, navigating the countryside with only the stars to guide us. <\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/IMG_3853_preview-1024x768.jpg\")
Stories and songs by firelight create a magical atmosphere<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\nNow the musical dance begins \u2013 and it is spectacular. The nightingales that sing are always male, and their song is a declaration of territory. They are prompted to mimicry through instinct: a rival spins a tune, they copy and elaborate on it. They are displaying their sexual prowess, and once they have mated, the singing stops. To hear it is an incredible privilege, and one I hope my children will be able to experience. But it may have to be soon. <\/p>\n\n
\u201cWe are living in this great age of extinction, and birds like the nightingale and cuckoo and the turtle dove are in enormous peril right now,\u201d says Sam. \u201cOne of the things we need to do in our practice is to love nature that bit harder: love what we have and celebrate it while it\u2019s here. The great tragedy for me is that these birds disappear into history, into silence, without anybody really noticing it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
To book, go to thenestcollective.co.uk\/singing-with-nightingales<\/a>. <\/strong>Tickets from \u00a385 per person, including dinner. <\/p>\n\n<\/div>\nWHERE TO HEAR NIGHTINGALES <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
Nightingale territory in the UK is decreasing year-on-year, and it\u2019s now almost exclusive to south-east England. The best time to hear nightingales is after dark. For the best chance of success, be patient, wear non-synthetic material that doesn\u2019t rustle, and keep torches to a minimum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
FIVE NIGHTINGALE WOODS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/GettyImages_877366040_preview-1024x683.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nHainault Forest, Essex <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nOnce a royal hunting ground (above), it\u2019s now home to wood warblers, woodpeckers and the rapidly diminishing turtle doves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dering Woods, Pluckley, Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nAncient woodland with a healthy population of dormice, reptiles and fritillary butterflies. Listen out, too, for the cuckoo at dusk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Priestly Wood, Suffolk <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe rare wild pear tree can be found in this coppiced woodland, among the bluebells and orchids. Look for badger tracks, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moat Wood, Sussex <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nThis woodland has a medieval moat, and its coppiced trees are a draw for nightingales. It\u2019s also a stronghold for adders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/2D6ECAY_preview-1024x682.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nBrede High Woods, Sussex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\nRare beetles, prehistoric lampreys and even wild boar roam the ancient pathways of this beautiful Sussex woodland (above). If you\u2019re there at dusk listening for nightingales, look out for glow-worms lighting up the paths. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n
GO FOREST CAMPING <\/h4>\n\n
Forest camping is a wonderful way to spend time in nature. There\u2019s the chance to spot bats at dusk, take night walks and bed down to hear the hoots and shrieks of native owls. However, you can\u2019t simply pitch up in any forest. Although legal in most of Scotland, wild camping options are extremely limited in England and Wales. Some landowners are happy to host wild campers, provided they respect the land. See the \u2018Beginner\u2019s guide to wild camping in the UK\u2019 on our website for more details. <\/span>countryfile.com\/wildcamping<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\nForest campsite facilities can range from manicured grass pitches and sparkling laundry rooms to less formal sites with compost toilets and solar showers. Not all allow campfires \u2013 but don\u2019t let not having a fire put you off as it can bring wildlife that bit closer. <\/p>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/45\/2023\/03\/de38690d-a765-4cf1-b88b-86e1dfc248e1.jpg\")
Every spacious pitch at The Secret Campsite in East Sussex is screened from its neighbours by native shrubs and grasses<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\nFOREST CAMPSITES TO TRY <\/strong><\/h5>\n\nGlenmore Campsite, Cairngorms<\/strong>
Pitch up among the trees looking out on to the shores of beautiful Loch Morlich, of which there is private access to its sandy beaches. Look out for red squirrels and golden eagles. glenmore-campsite.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nFire and Stars Woodland Camping, Leicestershire<\/strong>
A back-to-basics site set in 19 hectares of woodland, run in partnership with Leicestershire National Forest and Forestry England. Money generated from camping goes back into upkeep of the forest. Listen out for a wide variety of owl species. fireandstars.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nThe Secret Campsite, Barcombe, East Sussex <\/strong>
This meadow campsite borders a small coppiced woodland where nightingales return each year. It is very near where the Singing with Nightingales event takes place, so there\u2019s a good chance of hearing the birds between April and August. Plus, you can light a fire. thesecretcampsite.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nThetford Forest, East Anglia <\/strong>
Spanning more than 18,000 hectares, Thetwood Forest has several woodlands, including High Lodge Forest Park for kids. There are two options: Thetford Forest Club for caravans (caravanclub.co.uk<\/a>) and Oak Lodge Glamping (oaklodgeglamping.co.uk<\/a>). <\/p>\n\nSherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire <\/strong>
This Forestry England site has lots to offer families, including cycle trails and bike hire, forest walks and the biggest tree in England, the Major Oak. Listen out for cuckoos from April to August. campingintheforest.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nPostern Hill, Savernake Forest, Wiltshire<\/strong>
Savernake Forest has some seriously old trees including the 1,100-year old Big Belly Oak. There are also bats, owls, deer and nesting red kites. campingintheforest.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nWrekin Forest Camping, Shropshire<\/strong>
A fantastic off-grid forest campsite a short drive from Wrekin mountain and forest. The site has warm running water and plenty of firewood as well as access to a forest school with all the outdoor kit your kids may need. wrekinforestevents.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\nKitewood Camping, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire <\/strong>
Set in 24 hectares of woodland, Kitewood has just 12 tent pitches, which gives it a quiet, family feel. Each pitch has its own compost toilet and hot shower. Organised activities include pond dipping, bat walks, bushcraft and a weekly BBQ. kitewoodcamping.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
The silence is palpable. We sit motionless in the dark, goosebumps on our arms, listening intently to every rustle, creak and far-off snap of twig, waiting for a tweet, a call, anything that will tell us there is a nightingale somewhere in the vicinity. Like many in this little group, it will be the first time I have ever heard one. I can hardly dare breathe for fear of scaring it off. <\/p>\n\n
It\u2019s a chilly May night in Sussex, and I\u2019m one of 15 people who have just walked half a mile through pitch-black countryside to sit on the prickly edge of a stubble field in the hope of hearing their first nightingale. But we\u2019re not just here for the birds \u2013 we\u2019re in the company of musicians who, almost unbelievably, are planning a real-life symphony with them, featuring human voices, a violin and an instrument called a shruti box. <\/p>\n\n
However, like any diva worth its salt, the nightingale is making us wait. Three metres away, a soft note from a violin slowly rises through the air, lilting and growing to a dramatic crescendo. It\u2019s my favourite kind of fiddle playing \u2013 crystal clear like the Slavic gypsy style, achingly beautiful and still with you long after it ends. To my surprise, this is followed by the full-bellied, unnuanced drone of the shruti box. But singer and author Sam Lee is an authority on both folk music and nightingales, and knows exactly what he\u2019s doing.<\/span><\/p>\n\n \u201cLike any diva worth its salt, the nightingale is making us wait\u201d <\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n The hedgerow, however, remains silent. Sam begins to sing unaccompanied and I listen with a twinge of sadness. Nightingales have been all but wiped out in the UK, with a 90% population decline in the past 50 years. With rising temperatures in their winter home of north-west Africa affecting their food supplies, and their scrubland habitat being gradually erased from the British landscape, it seems inevitable that nightingales will become extinct here. The quieter they are tonight, the more heartbreaking this feels. <\/p>\n\n But then Sam\u2019s song ends \u2013 and something remarkable happens. <\/p>\n\n A burst of rapid chirruping fires out from the shadow of the trees as our nightingale finally answers: acrobatic, melodic and very much alive. <\/p>\n\n My spirits lift. The nightingale has not gone yet. <\/p>\n\n I\u2019m here on a Singing with Nightingales experience, led each spring by Sam Lee on a farm in Sussex \u2013 a location kept secret. This farm has a long-term rewilding vision. Right now, the coppiced beech forest is filled with bluebells, yellow primulas and wood anemones, which feed hundreds of varieties of butterflies and other important insects that are struggling elsewhere. It is a haven for little birds, especially passerine songbirds \u2013 with tits, thrushes, finches, sparrows and blackcaps flitting around fearlessly. <\/p>\n\n Around 15 of us arrived in the early afternoon and pitched up on the off-grid campsite. Sam led us on a walk around the farm, talking about its biodiversity. It\u2019s not the first time I\u2019ve met Sam \u2013 we were both musicians on the London folk scene years ago \u2013 but this is a side of him I\u2019ve never seen before. His 2021 book, The <\/em>Nightingale, <\/em>is a well-researched text about the increasingly elusive bird, but he also has a wealth of knowledge about many other native birds. I learn more about listening to and identifying birdsong in this hour-long wander than any book could teach me. Later, we gathered for dinner by the fire, ready for an evening of nightingale stories, facts and music. Tonight\u2019s guest musician is Anna Phoebe, a concert violinist who is here for an experience she wouldn\u2019t get at Cadogan Hall.<\/span><\/p>\n\n We squeezed on to benches with the rest of the group: I chatted to a mother and son who had flown in from Spain, a group of outdoorsy-looking older women, and a couple of minor celebrities I recognised from the 1990s. What unites us all, visually at least, is a lack of branded clothing \u2013 we had all been asked to wear wool, to minimise any rustling. Similarly, to bring our night vision up to full capacity for the walk to the nightingale site, we\u2019d been asked to turn off all devices and artificial light. <\/p>\n\n Sam cleared the chatter by breaking into a ballad, amiably dismissing the clapping that followed. \u201cSometimes the silences that hang after the nightingale song, and these old songs, are as much a part of the song itself.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n As the wall between performers and audience was removed, centuries suddenly fell away. Now we were among our Neolithic ancestors, sitting in a woodland that we\u2019d coppiced for fuel and tools, speaking and singing around a large crackling fire, surrounded by the native birds that were once prolific on this island. <\/p>\n\n When the time came to walk to the site, communicating only through whistles, this new primal connection didn\u2019t let us down. No one tripped or got lost, navigating the countryside with only the stars to guide us. <\/p>\n\n Now the musical dance begins \u2013 and it is spectacular. The nightingales that sing are always male, and their song is a declaration of territory. They are prompted to mimicry through instinct: a rival spins a tune, they copy and elaborate on it. They are displaying their sexual prowess, and once they have mated, the singing stops. To hear it is an incredible privilege, and one I hope my children will be able to experience. But it may have to be soon. <\/p>\n\n \u201cWe are living in this great age of extinction, and birds like the nightingale and cuckoo and the turtle dove are in enormous peril right now,\u201d says Sam. \u201cOne of the things we need to do in our practice is to love nature that bit harder: love what we have and celebrate it while it\u2019s here. The great tragedy for me is that these birds disappear into history, into silence, without anybody really noticing it.\u201d <\/p>\n\n To book, go to thenestcollective.co.uk\/singing-with-nightingales<\/a>. <\/strong>Tickets from \u00a385 per person, including dinner. <\/p>\n\n Nightingale territory in the UK is decreasing year-on-year, and it\u2019s now almost exclusive to south-east England. The best time to hear nightingales is after dark. For the best chance of success, be patient, wear non-synthetic material that doesn\u2019t rustle, and keep torches to a minimum. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Hainault Forest, Essex <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Once a royal hunting ground (above), it\u2019s now home to wood warblers, woodpeckers and the rapidly diminishing turtle doves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Dering Woods, Pluckley, Kent<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Ancient woodland with a healthy population of dormice, reptiles and fritillary butterflies. Listen out, too, for the cuckoo at dusk. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Priestly Wood, Suffolk <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The rare wild pear tree can be found in this coppiced woodland, among the bluebells and orchids. Look for badger tracks, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moat Wood, Sussex <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n This woodland has a medieval moat, and its coppiced trees are a draw for nightingales. It\u2019s also a stronghold for adders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Brede High Woods, Sussex<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Rare beetles, prehistoric lampreys and even wild boar roam the ancient pathways of this beautiful Sussex woodland (above). If you\u2019re there at dusk listening for nightingales, look out for glow-worms lighting up the paths. <\/p>\n<\/div><\/section>\n\n Forest camping is a wonderful way to spend time in nature. There\u2019s the chance to spot bats at dusk, take night walks and bed down to hear the hoots and shrieks of native owls. However, you can\u2019t simply pitch up in any forest. Although legal in most of Scotland, wild camping options are extremely limited in England and Wales. Some landowners are happy to host wild campers, provided they respect the land. See the \u2018Beginner\u2019s guide to wild camping in the UK\u2019 on our website for more details. <\/span>countryfile.com\/wildcamping<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n Forest campsite facilities can range from manicured grass pitches and sparkling laundry rooms to less formal sites with compost toilets and solar showers. Not all allow campfires \u2013 but don\u2019t let not having a fire put you off as it can bring wildlife that bit closer. <\/p>\n\n Glenmore Campsite, Cairngorms<\/strong> Fire and Stars Woodland Camping, Leicestershire<\/strong> The Secret Campsite, Barcombe, East Sussex <\/strong> Thetford Forest, East Anglia <\/strong> Sherwood Pines, Nottinghamshire <\/strong> Postern Hill, Savernake Forest, Wiltshire<\/strong> Wrekin Forest Camping, Shropshire<\/strong> Kitewood Camping, Fishguard, Pembrokeshire <\/strong>WILD SONGS OF SPRING <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
WHERE TO HEAR NIGHTINGALES <\/h4>\n\n\n\n
FIVE NIGHTINGALE WOODS <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nGO FOREST CAMPING <\/h4>\n\n
FOREST CAMPSITES TO TRY <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n
Pitch up among the trees looking out on to the shores of beautiful Loch Morlich, of which there is private access to its sandy beaches. Look out for red squirrels and golden eagles. glenmore-campsite.com<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
A back-to-basics site set in 19 hectares of woodland, run in partnership with Leicestershire National Forest and Forestry England. Money generated from camping goes back into upkeep of the forest. Listen out for a wide variety of owl species. fireandstars.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
This meadow campsite borders a small coppiced woodland where nightingales return each year. It is very near where the Singing with Nightingales event takes place, so there\u2019s a good chance of hearing the birds between April and August. Plus, you can light a fire. thesecretcampsite.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Spanning more than 18,000 hectares, Thetwood Forest has several woodlands, including High Lodge Forest Park for kids. There are two options: Thetford Forest Club for caravans (caravanclub.co.uk<\/a>) and Oak Lodge Glamping (oaklodgeglamping.co.uk<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n
This Forestry England site has lots to offer families, including cycle trails and bike hire, forest walks and the biggest tree in England, the Major Oak. Listen out for cuckoos from April to August. campingintheforest.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Savernake Forest has some seriously old trees including the 1,100-year old Big Belly Oak. There are also bats, owls, deer and nesting red kites. campingintheforest.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
A fantastic off-grid forest campsite a short drive from Wrekin mountain and forest. The site has warm running water and plenty of firewood as well as access to a forest school with all the outdoor kit your kids may need. wrekinforestevents.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n
Set in 24 hectares of woodland, Kitewood has just 12 tent pitches, which gives it a quiet, family feel. Each pitch has its own compost toilet and hot shower. Organised activities include pond dipping, bat walks, bushcraft and a weekly BBQ. kitewoodcamping.co.uk<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n\n