I feel very honoured and privileged ...

Mon 24 Jun 2019, 10:16

I'm reasonably sure that this/these nightingales, have set up camp in the trees between Hixet wood and Marlborough Place. Most evenings I hear the same sounds I've just heard on the youtube nightingale clip. You'd think you were in the tropics...all the different sounds. We can't all be mistaken can we?

Sun 23 Jun 2019, 18:21

Hello Bird watchers!  I heard, and saw, the nightingale last Monday evening. It was singing on top of one of the cherry trees on the approach to the station.  Unfortunately I didn't have my phone on me to record it, but I listened for at least 15 minutes and watched the bird as it sang. The variety of the song was incredible, and it was so loud for its size. On arriving home I googled it, saw its photo, listened to the song online, and I can confirm that it was indeed a nightingale.  They have been seen in the Charlbury area before, as my parents were taken to Dean Grove c.1960 by an ornithologist to listen to the nightingale there. 

Thu 20 Jun 2019, 14:51

I'm afraid I haven't heard or seen anything unusual since hearing something unusual on the Playing Close on Monday 10th June - just after Nick reported hearing them.  Hopefully they've found somewhere nice and private.

Thu 20 Jun 2019, 07:47

I haven't heard it here (on The Green) yet. Has anyone managed to record it? Dead easy these days.

I've got the same negative response from a lifelong birder, whose line is that it can't be a nightingale because we don't have nightingales here. 

I detect something wrong with this argument. In any case, nightingales migrate from southern Africa every spring, so there's every chance of a bird being off course.

Thu 13 Jun 2019, 14:59 (last edited on Thu 13 Jun 2019, 15:00)

Well said Alice.

Many thanks to Angela for the informative video.

I did find it biassed though.  E.g. "if you hear birdsong at night it's likely to be a Robin".   

That's a serious slant, because it impacts on the gathering of statistics.   So there might not be such a decline in Nightingales, although, as with most species, I am sure that there is a decline.  It's simply that the RSPB (of which I'm a member) are encouraging us all to identify the wrong bird.   

Wed 12 Jun 2019, 19:30 (last edited on Wed 12 Jun 2019, 21:33)

Well that's just ridiculous.  I watched it singing.  It was a nightingale, no mistaking.  It was sitting on a roof ridge and it's song was loud and constantly varied.  It was about 6pm not night.  What do the RSPB know?  No offence to robins but their song is much thinner, they are smaller and there is a give away red breast in the adults.  

Tue 11 Jun 2019, 18:32

Just came across a clip from Springwatch www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07cs89q - a recording of a nightingale last night at Reading motorway service station. So contrary to the RSPB maybe there is a local revival of this lovely bird!

Tue 11 Jun 2019, 12:41

Thank you, Angela!

And Veronica ... me too!

Tue 11 Jun 2019, 11:13

The BTO clip is excellent, well worth listening to. Tho' I have to admit I needed my hearing aid to get those high notes. 

Tue 11 Jun 2019, 09:21

Thank you, Angela. Now I'm sure that it was a nightingale that I heard.

Tue 11 Jun 2019, 08:38 (last edited on Tue 11 Jun 2019, 08:41)

Here’s an identification video from the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) https://www.bto.org/develop-your-skills/bird-identification/videos/bto-bird-id-nightingale-and-other-night-singers

Mon 10 Jun 2019, 14:58

I have not been lucky to hear the nightingale that has arrived in Charlbury, but how on earth could anyone confuse that bird with a robin, as suggested by the RSPB?  Some 40 years ago we came home late one evening and I suddenly became aware that a nightingale was singing nearby on land next to Lee's Heights.  I quickly grabbed my portable tape recorder and made a rather poor recording of it.  The song of a nightingale is unmistakable and I am sure that those lucky enough to have heard it, would have identified it with certainty.!

Mon 10 Jun 2019, 14:23

I'm afraid the Oxfordshire RSPB bird reporter has poured cold water on us:

"many thanks for your report. Nightingales are sadly virtually extinct in Oxon with just 1-2 singing males this year at a private site in the north east of the county. When there were more of them about some 30+ years ago they were never near human habitation. I hope you won't be offended if I suggest your birds are Robins. They commonly sing all night particularly in towns."

Sun 9 Jun 2019, 09:58 (last edited on Sun 9 Jun 2019, 10:01)

As far as I recall, it is the male nightingale that does the singing to attract the female (I have tried the same tactic for the best part of 40 years ... without success), so presumably that would mean that there are at least three of them (i.e. one female and two males to compete for her!).

Sun 9 Jun 2019, 09:06

Well the nightingales (I'm sure there were two) reached the Playing Close last night and treated us to an enchanting half hour concert. I've heard them near the East coast but - in 44 years here- never in Charlbury. Incredible.

Fri 7 Jun 2019, 08:21

Can't match a nightingale but we did have a Whitethroat in the garden yesterday.

Thu 6 Jun 2019, 22:47

The Nightingale arrived in Sandford Park this evening - wow what a tune!  I think I heard another in the distance.  Where have they come from?

Sat 1 Jun 2019, 07:52

Indeed, Alex, but this nightingale was obviously an intelligent nightingale who realised that "A nightingale sang in Woodfield Drive" fits the tune just as well! :-) 

Fri 31 May 2019, 22:14

That's all well and good but this is Charlbury not  Berkley Square, London you know! ( To recall the old song!)  

Wed 29 May 2019, 17:18

... to have a Nightingale singing in my garden!

He's been at it for much of the day! :-)