The Nightingale
In this modern age, with biodiversity in decline and habitats being eroded, the Nightingale has become representative of all that we have to lose.
The nightingale (Luscinia megarhynches) is a small, brown, unremarkable looking bird, but it possesses one of nature’s finest singing voices. The bird winters in Africa but spends April to July mating and nesting in Europe and the Middle East. Worldwide, the population is healthy but the numbers visiting England have declined so sharply that it is now on the UK’s Red List of species of the greatest conservation concern.
The name nightingale comes from the Old English ‘nigtgale’ – the night songstress – reflecting the long-held belief that it was the female birds which sang. In fact, the best singers are the males – trying either to attract a mate or to protect territory.
One of the most memorable features of the nightingale’s song is its rich variety – taking in mellow tones, flute-like sequences and a wide array of chatters, rattles and whistles. A typical singer may use 180 different riffs while a truly accomplished performer may incorporate around 250.
A nightingale starred in the BBC’s first ever live outside radio broadcast – dueting in May 1924 with Elgar’s favourite cellist Beatrice Harrison as she played in her garden in Oxsted, Surrey. The public’s response was so ecstatic the concert was repeated every May until 1942, when it was halted amid fears that Germany would gain military intelligence from the background noise of RAF planes.
Among the many creative icons who have referenced nightingales in their works are Homer, Ovid, Chaucer, Shakespeare, Keats, Wordsworth, Shelley, Beethoven, Liszt, Stravinsky and Hans Christian Andersen. But the much-recorded 1939 song “A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square” is improbable. If any bird sang there, it was most likely a blackbird!
Singing With Nightingales & Conservation
Nightingales are an increasingly rare bird in England with a declining population overall but a notable increase in Sussex, Kent and Essex their heartland. We are often asked about what the impact is of these events on the birds ability to mate and procreate and Sam and the Nest Collective have put a lot of work into researching the potential impact.
In doing this we have brought in our ornithologist and ‘environmental consultant’ Tom Stuart who has done regular work with us studying the impacts of both the digital and in field Singing With Nightingale events to assess the potential impact and whether our presence is in anyway having a negative impact. Likewise we have had several of the RSPB’s and BTO’s (British Trust for Ornithology) key staff team participate in our events. They have all given Singing With Nightingales their full blessing stating that it is in every way respectful of the birds and their behaviour with the likelihood of any such impact to be minor to the point of negligible.
We put in a great deal of effort to minimise our disturbance while the birds are singing and maximise the awareness for our audiences to their conservation needs both on the night and in general. Clearly, Singing With Nightingales wouldn’t work if the audience scared nightingales away when we approached. After six years, we can safely say that the majority of birds sing on irrespective of the audience’s presence and our music. The birds’ reactions to our audiences are generally no different from their reactions to passing bird-watchers, casual walkers, families, traffic and industry. The population on our Sussex site has quite clearly been increasing every year.
Nightingales sing for 6 weeks as part of a courtship display that is also incredibly social and interactive with other males, other natural sounds and also other anthropophonic sounds (human made noise). Nightingales are notorious for choosing habitat very close to human dwelling and have depended on humans to create habitat for thousands of years. Berlin city has almost half the number of birds in the entire UK. There they live, breed and thrive in close proximity to so much human made disturbance.
The 45-60 minutes we spend in hushed silence near their sing spot on a few nights is a fraction of the time they spend singing and would not, we have been expertly informed, interfere in a female’s search for a male. This is a long drawn out process and is as much determined by the females daytime inspection of the males chosen territory. We use no lights so it remains utterly dark throughout our visit, the music is unamplified and the nightingale invariably sings louder and more emphatically when with us there. Anecdotal feedback from the experts who have visited the events is that one unleashed dog with their walker on the same site would pose so much more untold risk than our intimate group walking and stopping silently. It was supportively added that the power of these artistic interventions to inspire and forge a renewed sense of worth, respect and protection towards these birds and their environment is immeasurable in the benefits this awareness nurtures.
The threat to nightingales is not a violin or singers presence but by being forgotten and their habitat being destroyed, developed, over grazed by human negligence and financial interest. These are the more insipid threats that are currently compromising vital habitats in several sites across the UK and dozens of birds. The Nest Collective is working in collaboration with the RSPB and local groups to draw attention to a couple of these current situations which needs as many signatories and outspoken opponents of as possible. We also engage in annual conservation work to help maintain the nightingales habitat during the winter which all previous participants are welcome to join us for.
We take the welfare of the nightingales and the land they depend on immensely seriously. The project is at its heart a conservation exercise and operates as a contemporary means to create and invite renewed appreciation of an ecological niche under siege. Sam Lee and the Nest Collective believe firmly that we are part of nature and nature is part of us and the ‘leave it alone’ attitude so readily defaulted to is one of the single largest contributors to the ‘state of nature’ in the UK right now. As the most nature depleted nation in the EU it feels clear that this attitude has not worked and meant we have lost vital habitats through a generational legacy of separation, lack of engagement and missed celebration. Through experiences like Singing with Nightingales we can start once again to really bring nature back into our hearts and foster an ongoing inclusive, intergenerational opportunity for re-enchantment and nature loving.
Example Itinerary for our Springtime Evening Concerts
(Please note: We will aim to keep the itinerary close to this schedule but this cannot be guaranteed)
19.00 – Opening
From 19.00 we will welcome you to the site. All guests will be given a map and directions to the site in advance. We allow time for everyone to assemble and relax into the evening.
19.30 – Dusk walk
The early part of the evening can vary. Where possible we will go on a guided walk to listen to the evening chorus and identify other bird songs.
20.15 – Dinner & drinks around the campfire
An organic, vegetarian feast, including carefully selected wines, beers, hot and cold soft drinks
21.00 – Folklore & ornithology with your host
21.45 – Campfire musical performance by your artist
The time around the fire will be a social period, however we will use the after dinner time to share some of the bird knowledge, knowledge of the landscape and area, and folklore of the nightingale and its place within history, literature and folksong. There will also be guidance into nature immersion and how to conduct ourselves safely and respectfully in the dark and the wild. This will also be a time of music sharing, prose and poetry.
22.30 – Head out in search of a nightingale for an improvised duet
Once darkness has fallen and the nightingale singing time has started (this does vary as the season progresses and night to night) we will journey through the forest and fields into the habitat of the birds. We aim to be finished around 12.30am but, of course, this all depends on the birds.
00.30 – Estimated finish time
Audience Testimonials
“It was, as promised, magical” – Dan Damon, BBC R4
“Still aglow. One of the most profound and magical nights of my life.” – John M
“The event as a whole was an incredible experience, and I thought it was held beautifully by the whole team. Hearing the nightingale and Sam and Jonny singing and playing under the stars was wonderful.”
“The food and hospitality were wonderful, the music was spellbinding and the atmosphere was really very special indeed.” – Alison S
“…lying under the stars listening to the nightingales everything lifted…Thank you so much.” – Janet
“It showed us a new way of hearing, seeing and being. Or perhaps not a new way at all, but a very old way.” – Fiona M
“A holistic experience like no other. Total immersion in nature and music, in ancient Sussex woodland. It will take me a long time to process. Thank you”
“Being outside with a group of people connecting to nature and enjoying the beauty of song and songbirds. It felt very deeply sacred and beautiful to be a part of this!”
