The 3rd of May saw the second evening walk at the reserve hosted by the Medway Local Group, by 7pm 27 of us had gathered to hear the legendary bird sing, a good two thirds had never heard a nightingale and I promised them a real treat. Up to Sweeney Viewpoint and down the gentle hill to Lipwell, where a couple of males could be heard limbering up.
Plenty of other birds entertained us as we made our way to the bridge, the di-syllabic songs of the Great tit and Chiff-chaff. Yaffling Green woodpeckers, noisey corvids, but the occasional whole-hearted snatch of song was unmistakable even if just a few gentle exercises to clear the throat.
Across the bridge and a gentle climb up the steep hill to the woodland veiwpoint again a tantilising array of spell-binding notes, like an orchestra tuning up. We made way our deeper into the wood to a point where Mat Larkin the wildlife cameraman had so patienty waited hour on hour to capture imagery of the iconic songster a week or so ago.
So now I had 27 expectant people having listened to the randomly thrown out notes from deep within a near-by scrub expecting the full monty and they were not to disappointed as.......... two males tried out sing each other 30 metres apart, but could we see them? Could we heck! Like listening to a CD of Luciano Pavorotti. Did we really need to see him in the flesh, maybe. Was it made any the less by not seeing them? Well only slightly.
Let us not forget this is not only about the bird, but its threatened status in the UK. Lodge Hill, Kent is the UK's most important home for the them in the UK. A staggering decline of 90% in the last 50 years. Medway Council propose despite the SSSI protected status to build thousands of houses around and on the protected site. Thanks to a huge public outcry Lodge Hill has been saved for the moment. The Public consultation for the Local Plan runs until the 11th of May, now extended to the 25th of June.
Please go to rspb.org.uk/savenightingales and urge Medway Council to protect, not destroy this protected site.
Happy in mission accomplished we slowly made our way back to the car park at Bromhey Farm and off home fully satisfied.
My thanks to Dave Hale as my number two and Des and Carol Felix as steward support.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.