MOONLIGHT SONATAS

Head to southern Europe and the most unremarkable thicket resounds with nightingale song. But in this country the bird’s loud, jazzy phrases fill the evening air at an ever-decreasing number of locations, often scrub on brownfield sites or near water. Fewer than 6,000 singing males occupy territories in England each spring – key strongholds lie in Kent and Sussex woods, the Thames marshes, Essex and Suffolk coasts and East Anglian fens. The RSPB’s first National Nightingale Festival celebrates their return.

GET INVOLVED National Nightingale Festival (until 27 May): http://bit.ly/2o4YkZH