Nature notes: nightingales

Nightingales are always elusive birds, even when they are singing. One can stand beside a dense blackthorn hedge only a few feet from a nightingale singing inside it, and never see the bird. After they have finished breeding and singing, usually in late June, they become practically invisible. No one knows what they do between then and their migration back to Africa in early autumn. No doubt they are feeding in the undergrowth and building up their strength, but they are small, skulking, dark-brown birds, and few people ever see one then. However, once they set off, they are sometimes encountered along the coast, especially the south coast. One was found yesterday on Bardsey Island off Cardigan Bay in North Wales — well away from their normal migration route — and, more typically, there was one on Saturday at Portland Bill in Dorset. There were three on Beachy Head in Sussex in mid-August. Portland is an exceptional place for birdwatching — a promontory that runs six miles out into the English Channel, with many migrants passing along it. At the weekend, besides the nightingale, there were two quite rare visitors there — a barred warbler and an ortolan bunting.