I took a walk in early morning sunshine over Westleton Heath, in the hope of seeing a dartford warbler. I heard a couple of nightingales singing, and was soon joined by a few other people, happy to stand still for a few minutes, in rapt attention, while letting the song wash over them. Uncommon they may be, but when nightingales are around, they announce their presence in the most unmistakable way. The song is acoustically sophisticated, like Dolby surround-sound: sometimes appearing to come from two places at once, sometimes sounding like two birds rather than one. I was able to get a good view of one male, because it was singing from a tree rather than thick undergrowth.
I love heathland, partly because it’s a type of landscape we don’t get up north (I think of heathland as a lowland version of Yorkshire’s heather moorland). The walking is easy along sandy paths and tracks, between the heather, flowering gorse bushes and silver birches. I heard cuckoo, skylark, linnet, a turtle dove ‘purring’ and a whitethoat’s rasping song, but was nearly back at the Romahome before I heard a dartford warbler (it’s a scratchy yet distinctive little song) and then saw one, where I’d expect to see it, on top of a gorse bush. Nightingale and dartford warbler… before I’d even had breakfast…
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