Nightingales

Steyning Downland Scheme birdwatch group set off this morning at 6:30am very hopeful that we would hear a nightingale.  A couple had heard one singing loudly on Friday night at about 10:30pm near the ponds where one took up residence last spring.  So we were delighted to hear another on the path near the entrance to the south side of the rifle range, where we had not heard one before.  Not only that, we got very good views of it too.  It was perched in the top of a hawthorn which was not fully out in leaf and we all had good views of it, a real treat as this is a bird that is much more often heard than seen.   One team also reported hearing one in the expected place by the ponds, too.  The wide, scrubby hedgerow that runs up by the path may be developing into suitable nightingale nesting habitat, but somehow I doubt it.  Nonetheless, we will all be listening out for it in the weeks to come.

Steyning Coombe area seemed very quiet.  It is an area that promises much, but often delivers little when it comes to birds.  There was a noticeable lack of nuthatches and treecreepers in the woodland areas, but great spotted and green woodpeckers were drumming and yaffling all round.   The south side of the rifle range was busy with at least two pairs each of yellowhammers and linnets and a very confiding chiffchaff. Other groups reported hearing willow warblers, whitethroat and marsh tit, but we did not.  A wonderful spring morning with the sight and sound of the nightingale more than making up for the other things we missed.