The Spring Thorn - Nightingale song

A Still April Day at Pulborough Brooks

Sunday arrived cloaked in beautiful stillness. The air was calm, the light gentle, bright, and Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex lay beneath a warm April sun. A hush hung over the reserve, not silence, but something more attentive, more poised, as though the land itself was waiting. This was a morning made for birdwatching, a day when every step along the path seemed to draw you deeper into the season’s unfolding. And it was the Nightingales who made led the concerto, not just by sound, but in form, in spirit.

In the Presence of Nightingales

A male Nightingale rose to sing from a young Willow, the tree itself pushing out of a Bramble and Blackthorn thicket. There he stood, a small figure carved in sunlight, finished in copper and delivered his song, notes like molten glass, poured effortlessly into the morning air. Each phrase rang clear, a declaration of presence, purpose, and place.

Me enjoying one of the glorious singing Nightingales

Further up the track, another male sang from low within a Bramble, but in full view. He seemed determined to challenge the idea that these birds are skulkers. He was soon displaced by a third male, who erupted from cover and chased him away, wings slicing through the quiet, slapping against branch and thorn in his retreat. The dispute was brief, and within minutes, song filled the space once more. Less brazen now, sung from deep cover, but no less potent in its delivery and tone. To see a Nightingale in full song, to witness it step from the shadows and sing into the light, feels like a gift, or a glimpse into a hidden depth of the world. Their presence is momentary, but their voices, ancient, entrancing your senses and anchoring you to the present.

Spring in Full Voice

It was not just the Nightingales. The Brooks was alive with sound and motion. Nature is all energy at this time of year. Blackcaps fluted from thickets, Chiffchaffs chimed from every bough, and Sedge Warblers rattled from the tops of Hawthorns, their songs sharp with effort and urgency. Exuberance filled the air, not loud, but full. The marshes, hedgerows, and open scrapes all playing their part in this spring opus. Above it all, a White-tailed Eagle, that vast emblem of wildness, powered low across the reserve. Its shadow passed like a memory across the grassland, a stirring presence from a wilder time, inspiring fear and panic into a landscape that has never forgotten, just neglected the idea of these behemoths for over 200 years. Below it, two Ruff fed along the water’s edge, one already showing signs of his summer finery, feathers around the neck thickening into tufts. A Little Ringed Plover took to the air, flickering through its delicate display flight, piping calls sharp and sweet on the air.

A Moment Held in Song

I lingered longer than I meant to. Wild spaces have that effect, they slow you, invite you to notice. Every note of birdsong called me deeper into the day, into myself. The paths turned through reeds and Bramble banks, the very places the Nightingales favour. They were still singing. They would keep singing, long after I had gone.

We often think of the Nightingale’s song as mournful, filled with longing. But to my ears that morning, it sounded like something else entirely, resilient, defiant, necessary. A song of survival and beauty, shaped by thorns, sung into stillness, carried on warmth.

Naturalist Notes

📌 The Where

RSPB Pulborough Brooks, West Sussex — a diverse reserve featuring wet grassland, woodland, and scrub, offering habitat for breeding warblers and migrating waders.

🔎 The What

• Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos): three territorial males observed singing during daytime, including display from open perches

• White-tailed Eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) : single adult soaring over the reserve, a pair bred nearby last year, representing the first time White Tailed Eagles have bred in England in over 240 years!

• Ruff (Calidris pugnax): two individuals present, including one male showing signs of

  breeding plumage

• Little Ringed Plover (Charadrius dubius) — displaying with flight calls

• Blackcap, Chiffchaff, and Sedge Warbler — widespread and vocal across the reserve

📖 The Why

• Nightingales prefer dense, tangled scrub, particularly Blackthorn, Hawthorn, and Bramble. The presence of sunny glades and damp areas within the scrub matrix creates ideal breeding territory.

• The White-tailed Eagle is a relatively new presence in Sussex due to ongoing reintroduction efforts on the Isle of Wight.

🗓 Visit details

Sunday, 13 April 2025 Conditions: Warm, calm, dry: ideal for spring bird activity.