Our inaugural episode celebrates the return of the nightingale to Knepp Wildland this spring.

The nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) has seen an impressive increase in numbers at Knepp Wildland since the beginning of the rewilding project, and 2020 has been a bumper year (although we didn’t know this at the time of recording!) with somewhere in the region of 30 singing males in the southern block of the project.

Sideshow Dave joins us on this episode as we talk about nightingales during our nocturnal and dawn surveys. We’re also fortunate enough to be joined by Tony Davis, lead bird ringer and nest-finding guru at Knepp to talk about the importance of finding and monitoring the nests of this elusive species.

We end with the most wonderfully pure nightingale solo from beneath a full moon.

This podcast wouldn’t have been possible without the support of some very talented people who have kindly given their time and exceptional talent to help get this from egg to fledgling! Many thanks go to: Lia Brazier for the beautiful artwork, Mat Davidson for the wonderful music and Ian Bunn for his patient editing skills.