105 lines
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105 lines
8.1 KiB
Plaintext
<p>Back in the mists of time before Covid, Mr Bsag and I booked tickets for a
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<a href="https://thenestcollective.co.uk/events/swn-early-birds-2022/">Singing With Nightingales</a> event (hosted by the folk singer <a href="https://samleesong.co.uk">Sam Lee</a>) for
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April 2020. I had wanted to attend one of these events ever since I had heard
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about it, and the tickets were a 50th birthday present, partially funded by kind
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gifts from friends and family. I don’t need to tell you what happened next,
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because you were all there: lockdown happened, events were cancelled, and all of
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our lives contracted. I booked again for April 2021, determined not to be denied
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my fix of folk song and bird song, and once again, plans had to change. Luckily,
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this time the event was just postponed, rather than being cancelled, so last
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week, we set off for Sussex to attend the event. After all the waiting, all the
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pent-up need be somewhere other than our local area, it could have all been a
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huge anti-climax but (<em>spoiler alert!</em>) it was not. It was one of the most magical
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evenings of my life.</p>
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<p>The Singing With Nightingales events (held in a secret Sussex woodland location)
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are a celebration of nature in general and (of course) the song of the
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nightingale in particular. Sam and a musical guest (we had the wonderful <a href="https://www.lisaknapp.co.uk/#home-section">Lisa
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Knapp</a>) sing folk songs and talk about nature around a campfire, and lead
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guests on a nature walk to enjoy the evening chorus before the main event with
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the nightingales. The woodland location is spectacularly beautiful. We were
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lucky to be there on probably the first dry day in a month. In the Golden Hour
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as the sun was starting to set, the fresh new leaves on the trees shone like
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stained glass in a cathedral window. The place shimmered with bird song,
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butterflies and wild flowers.</p>
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<p>I love the voices of both Sam Lee and Lisa Knapp, so it was a privilege to hear
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them sing unaccompanied (alone and together) in such an intimate setting. In
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fact, after such a period of isolation, it was so moving to hear musicians
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singing live, and to be with other people, all listening so intently. One of the
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things Sam talked about was the interconnection between nightingales and human
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culture. The short period of about six weeks in which nightingales sing
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coincides with the traditional Spring festivals (May Day, Beltane, Easter and
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so on). The period in which we humans traditionally celebrated making it through
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the winter alive (with fun, feasting and — <em>ahem</em> — frolicking) would have had
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a rich soundtrack of euphoric nightingale song. While the population of
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nightingales has heart-breakingly dwindled, and we have mostly lost our
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connection to the changing seasons, the idea of celebrating making it through
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the winter by listening to nightingales in the night had an unexpectedly deep
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resonance with our current times.</p>
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<p>After a meal and music around the campfire, we gathered after dark to walk
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silently through the woodland and across the fields to the place where the
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nightingales would be singing. In another stroke of incredible luck, the evening
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we attended the event was not only the night of the full moon, but a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supermoon">supermoon</a>,
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and not just a supermoon but a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar%5Feclipse">blood moon</a>. As we walked in the dark, the blood
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moon was just rising, appearing almost as pink as a rising sun. I’ve walked at
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night under a full moon many times before, and love the light and moon shadows
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that it casts. The light of the full moon is usually a cold colour, but this
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blood moon gave a warm tone to the light which only added to the dream-like feel
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of the whole experience.</p>
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<p>Once we had arrived at the right place, we settled as quietly as we could to
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listen for the song. Sam had mentioned earlier that we might like to lie back on
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the grass so we could look at the stars while we listened, so that’s what I did.
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It might sound a bit daft, but in addition to the practical reasons for lying
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down (it’s much easier to keep still and therefore silent), I wanted to make
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myself a bit vulnerable. It’s rare for women to be able to lie down
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in the dark outside and feel safe. I have done it in remote places where I knew
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that there were no other humans around and all I had to worry about was the
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wildlife, but usually I am inhibited by feeling watchful and tense.
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In this safe environment, I wanted to abandon myself completely to the
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experience.</p>
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<p>As I looked up through the grass towards the stars, I was acutely aware of the
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soundscape of night sounds: the frogs creaking away in a pond to the right,
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distant tawny owl calls and the occasional cuckoo. I could also hear
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nightingales singing more distantly, but unfortunately the nightingale in the
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thicket next to us had turned shy. Perhaps we had used up all our luck on the
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weather and the blood moon, but that’s wildlife watching — animals naturally
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go about their lives without consideration for the humans who desperately want
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to see or hear them. After a period of waiting, Sam and Lisa gently started
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singing, hoping the nightingale would be encouraged to join in, as they often
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are. We had tantalising moments when our male started powerful snatches of song,
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weaving through the human singing, but he never broke into continuous song.</p>
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<p>If you had asked me before the event if I would be disappointed by that outcome,
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I might have said yes, but how could I ever feel disappointed by such a magical
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night? We were so privileged to be in one of the few remaining strongholds of
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breeding nightingales in the country: even hearing brief snippets of song was a
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gift that most people will never experience<sup id="fnref:1"><a href="#fn:1" class="footnote-ref" role="doc-noteref">1</a></sup>. We got to hear the beautiful
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singing of Sam and Lisa, bringing back to life old folk songs which weave
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nightingales into stories of human joy and sorrow, love and loss. We watched the
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stars, felt the warm, damp earth support us, and listened to the sounds of
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the night around us. About half way through, I sat up quietly and was surprised
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to feel enormous tenderness for everyone in the group. We were all soft, still
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shapes in the dark, and you could almost feel the intensity of focused
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listening. I turned my head as quietly as I could to look at the moon. Mist was
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gently draping the fields and the blood moon made it glow a soft and dusky pink.
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That image, and the memory of the precious bits of nightingale song making my
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heart race in the dark will stay with me for a long time.</p>
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<p>As we walked back, we were surrounded by the songs of other nightingales. It was
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after 1am, but Sam offered to take those of us who didn’t want to leave yet (all
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of us, not surprisingly) to hear one of these males in full song close up, so that we would
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have that experience. We didn’t stay long, but it was incredible to hear the
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full song. Long-time readers of this blog will know of <a href="https://www.rousette.org.uk/archives/blackbird-singing-at-the-break-of-dawn/">my love</a> of <a href="https://www.rousette.org.uk/archives/skylark/">birdsong</a>. I
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love them all, and have also listened to recordings of nightingale song many
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times. Hearing them sing live, in the dark, is a completely different experience
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though. It is such a powerful sound: rich and sweet, and so complex and varied
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that it takes your breath away. There’s a particular phrase of long, pure,
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whistled notes that I heard a few times which brings a lump to my throat now
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just remembering it. We can’t lose these birds. We can’t lose the joy of
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spring and the feeling of relief of having survived the winter. We can’t lose
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the songs.</p>
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<section class="footnotes" role="doc-endnotes">
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<hr>
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<ol>
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<li id="fn:1" role="doc-endnote">
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<p>Sadly, even fewer people are likely to hear them in the future if we don’t act now to conserve habitats: nightingales are on the UK <a href="https://www.rspb.org.uk/join-and-donate/donate/appeals/red-alert/">Red List</a> of declining bird species. <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-backref" role="doc-backlink">↩︎</a></p>
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</li>
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</ol>
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</section> |