Any cheerful news today? (Nothing negative please! šŸ™‚)

Small Talk
502

Colonial influence still strong even now,ā€¦

503

My son did Medieval English there would you believe ?

1 Like
504

Such a lovely place to be!

505

My good news is that I sent a recording of nightingales to BBC Radio 3 and they played it this morning, interspersed with an excellent choice of music :blush:.

Itā€™s available at BBC Sounds and ā€˜myā€™ bit starts at 1hour 17 minutes in, and lasts until 1hr 33mins.

7 Likes
506

Brian, why didnā€™t I listen this morning?
I normally do and I am so sorry I missed your recording.
We have quite a few nightingales again this year.

1 Like
507

Iā€™ve just listened to it BUT being horrendously cloth eared, I have no idea which is nightingale and which is anything else. Is there a section with just the nightingale in it? :thinking:

508

If you listen between the times I listed, the most prominent bird is the nightingale. It was about 3m from my microphone. All the other birds are at least 20m away.

1 Like
509

If you click my link and go to 1 hour 17 minutes in you can hear it until 18th August.

(And no, I donā€™t get royalties. In fact, they didnā€™t even tell me they were going to use it!)

510

Thanks Brian - I did listen between those times but wasnā€™t sure if what I was listening to was all nightingal or not. Iā€™ve never knowingly heard one!

511

Iā€™ll post a 5 second clip of just nightingale. It wonā€™t be for a few hours thoughā€¦

512

Thatā€™s very kind, Brian - thank you! No rush at all as the garden is beckoningā€¦

513

@AngelaR

Hereā€™s a 13 second clip. The song is very variable but the elements heard here will be frequently included in a nightingaleā€™s song.

Iā€™m sorry itā€™s a link rather than a clip but SF (very sensibly, in my view!) does not allow video and audio clips to be embedded in a post.

4 Likes
514

Thank you Brian - thatā€™s lovely!

1 Like
515

Really lovely, I think I may well have heard them before, just had no idea what they were!

516

If you lived here you would know. I sometimes have to close my window to get to sleep for the amount of singing they do.

1 Like
517

For many of my friends (and for me, too) this is cheerful News

3 Likes
518

You must be looking forward to the Perseides this year Stella - a good year because only a crescent moon. :grin:

1 Like
519

We seem to have had more swifts visiting the area this year. I could watch them for hours chasing each other around the rooftops.
My question is - at a certain time of the evening they disappear. Iā€™m told they sleep ā€˜on the wingā€™. If this is the case where? Do they fly higher?

520

They do sleep on the wing but I have no idea how they manage it. The latest theory is that during sleep, only half of their brain shuts down. The other half and the corresponding eye stay alert and functioning. They then control flight.

Typically, the only time they sleep in a nest is during breeding/caring for young. Even then, the mating part is usually undertaken on the wing.

521

And if you find a young one on the ground it needs to be got somewhere high where it can launch again. On the ground it will die.

1 Like