Yesterday evening was the last of this years ‘Nightingale Season Singing Walks’ and I was always a little worried as their singing period is so short and this was pretty much the extent of that period, never-the-less nearly thirty members of the public and volunteers gathered in the Bromhey Farm car park to hear the Nightingales legendary song. Alongside the usual welcome, I gave the assembled people a small talk and literature re the Medway Councils’ madcap scheme to build 2,000 houses on the SSSI site at Lodge Hill, the ex-army camp in Chattenden, less than a mile away from where we were standing.
So promptly just after 7’o’clock, we set off up to Sweeney Viewpoint to enjoy the fantastic vista across the marshlands to the River Thames and beyond to Essex.
A Garden Tiger Moth.
This gave me the opportunity to talk about Owen and Linda Sweeney and what great champions for nature they’d been and in particular the latter years with Owens’ passion for Nightingales and their plight due to Medway Councils plans for Lodge Hill and it’s environs.
It’s also interesting to note that it’s almost one year to the day that me, Adrian Thomas, Mr and Mrs Sweeneys’ family plus members of the RSPB Medway Group held a small ceremony to unveil the signage naming the viewpoint.
On the way down we spotted a Barn Owl out on the marsh hunting back and forth from the Comms. building to the Cherry Orchard, sometimes coming within a hundred yards or so of us. Most of the group had never seen a Barn Owl or hadn’t seen one for several years!
On the way to the sanctuary snatches of Nightingale notes could be heard, but not, unfortunately, the full song, but as a bonus, a male Cuckoo landed in a nearby silver birch giving good views and again most of the group had never seen one of these either.
We continued on up into Northward Hill itself hoping to hear the fabled songster, but it was not to be, that said as we made our way back to the car park again notes could be heard from distant bushes.
Enjoying the fading light and magnificent sunset.
Back at Bromhey everyone was very happy and had enjoyed the walk, especially the Owl and Cuckoo and so the only one that was disappointed was me who hadn’t been able to let people listen to bird, but there had been plenty of others singing, including Wren, Cetti’s Warbler, Reed Warbler and Whitethroats.
My thanks to Will the Warden and the interns Ruth and James. Medway local group volunteers Des and Carol Felix and of course Adrian Olsen.
The North Kent Marshes are a very special area and worth preserving at all cost.
I've been into the reserve several times in the last few weeks, including evenings, and haven't heard nightingales anywhere near as much as I did over the same period last year. I met you one evening and on that occasion too you were only hearing short snippets of song. Have you any thoughts on why that might be the case and has this generally been people's experience this year?