In my post this month I am rewinding a couple of months to an event that I attended this spring. For reasons that will become clear as you read, I took very few photos of the event, but I hope that the few that I have included, together with my words, will paint a picture for you.
In the early 1920s, celebrated British cellist, Beatrice Harrison, noticed that when she practised her cello outdoors at dusk in spring, the wild nightingales in her garden would respond to her playing; and in 1924, Harrison playing cello live in her garden accompanied by wild nightingales became one of the BBC’s first outdoor broadcasts. The broadcast caused a sensation, and became an annual BBC event for years afterward.
There has long been gentle scepticism about whether the birds were truly “duetting” with Harrison. Some later observers suggested the nightingales were simply carrying on territorial song regardless of the cello; while others thought the birds may genuinely have been stimulated by certain frequencies or pauses. Either way, the effect was compelling, and the story became part of British folklore.
Nightingale numbers have declined in the UK, due, largely, to habitat loss, and may well become extinct on these shores during my lifetime. Once the soundtrack of spring, their song is now a rarity.
Fast forward from Spring 1924 to May 2026, and a magical, meditative night at a secret location on re-wilded land in Eastern England, organised by Singing With Nightingales.
After food, music and tales from nature around the campfire, we put our cameras away and walked – in silence and by starlight – to the place where every night for a few weeks in spring, a small brown bird, newly arrived from sub-Saharan Africa, sings.
As we walked into the depths of the scrub habitat that nightingales favour, we began to hear snatches of the mix of whistles, trills, clicks, fluting phrases and rattles that form the nightingale’s song. Entirely unfazed by our approach, the males of the species continued to sing their hearts out as we settled down – initially to listen to their music unaccompanied, and then to hear them singing alongside and with the sublime santoor music of Kaviraj Singh. It’s hard to find the words to describe just how magical the experience was, but I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever feeling quite such a sense of deep calm as I did during those 40 minutes of dead of night bird song.
Thank you to Beatrice Harrison for the inspiration, and to Singing with Nightingales for making it possible.
If you would like to know more about SWN or to listen to some of their recordings from this Spring’s events, head to https://www.singingwithnightingales.co.uk/