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Must we silence nightingales in order to build houses? Must we silence nightingales in order to build houses?
(5 months later)
Wednesday 17 April was not just the day of Lady Thatcher's funeral. The diary gave it as the scheduled arrival date of this year's nightingale migration. How wonderful it would have been if, amid the bells, choirs and organs, this bird of joy had settled in St Paul's churchyard and made the world fall silent.Wednesday 17 April was not just the day of Lady Thatcher's funeral. The diary gave it as the scheduled arrival date of this year's nightingale migration. How wonderful it would have been if, amid the bells, choirs and organs, this bird of joy had settled in St Paul's churchyard and made the world fall silent.
Two nights before, at the Royal Society of Literature, the nightingale's troubadour laureate, Richard Mabey, greeted the migration with an evening of nightingale stories, nightingale studies and nightingale recordings. Mabey called his audience to arms: 90% of the British population of this glorious species has vanished since 1970; remaining scrubland habitats are being squeezed out of existence. The British Trust for Ornithology's nightingale map is a desperate document, with sightings largely confined to East Anglia, Kent and Sussex.Two nights before, at the Royal Society of Literature, the nightingale's troubadour laureate, Richard Mabey, greeted the migration with an evening of nightingale stories, nightingale studies and nightingale recordings. Mabey called his audience to arms: 90% of the British population of this glorious species has vanished since 1970; remaining scrubland habitats are being squeezed out of existence. The British Trust for Ornithology's nightingale map is a desperate document, with sightings largely confined to East Anglia, Kent and Sussex.
Of all living creatures, I regard birds as most beautiful, both in sound and spectacle. For sound, the nightingale is pre-eminent. This Pavarotti of the hedgerow arrives, picks on a suitable patch of hawthorn, throws back his head and sings. It utters a burst of spondees and glissandi that seem to rise in volume until they shatter into a thousand shards of sound.Of all living creatures, I regard birds as most beautiful, both in sound and spectacle. For sound, the nightingale is pre-eminent. This Pavarotti of the hedgerow arrives, picks on a suitable patch of hawthorn, throws back his head and sings. It utters a burst of spondees and glissandi that seem to rise in volume until they shatter into a thousand shards of sound.
Scientists are baffled, poets ecstatic. To Shelley, on hearing a nightingale, Sound overflows the listener's brain, / So sweet, that joy is almost pain. Keats, on Hampstead Heath, was so enraptured that, Now more than ever seems it rich to die / … While thou art pouring forth thy soul. John Clare's ploughman feels / The thrilling music as he goes along / And imitates and listens. The writer HE Bates described the bird's breathless restraint, which suddenly "tunes up, then flares out in a moment into a crescendo of fire and honey".Scientists are baffled, poets ecstatic. To Shelley, on hearing a nightingale, Sound overflows the listener's brain, / So sweet, that joy is almost pain. Keats, on Hampstead Heath, was so enraptured that, Now more than ever seems it rich to die / … While thou art pouring forth thy soul. John Clare's ploughman feels / The thrilling music as he goes along / And imitates and listens. The writer HE Bates described the bird's breathless restraint, which suddenly "tunes up, then flares out in a moment into a crescendo of fire and honey".
Birdsong remains one of nature's mysteries. The male nightingale may sing to attract a mate, declare territory, or guard eggs incubating in the nest, as if in joy at impending fatherhood. He sings alone or in company. He sings when feeding his young. Those lucky enough to observe from close quarters report that he appears to sing for the sheer pleasure of it – or perhaps the sheer hell.Birdsong remains one of nature's mysteries. The male nightingale may sing to attract a mate, declare territory, or guard eggs incubating in the nest, as if in joy at impending fatherhood. He sings alone or in company. He sings when feeding his young. Those lucky enough to observe from close quarters report that he appears to sing for the sheer pleasure of it – or perhaps the sheer hell.
Medieval troubadours had no doubt. Nightingales were a serenade to love-making in springtime. I am told that an Italian euphemism for sex is "to hear the nightingale sing", or, as Boccaccio wrote, "l'udir cantar l'usignuolo". As if to impel male endurance, one recording continues for five and a half hours. Legend holds that a nightingale can sing for a day.Medieval troubadours had no doubt. Nightingales were a serenade to love-making in springtime. I am told that an Italian euphemism for sex is "to hear the nightingale sing", or, as Boccaccio wrote, "l'udir cantar l'usignuolo". As if to impel male endurance, one recording continues for five and a half hours. Legend holds that a nightingale can sing for a day.
Michael Wood, in his recent TV history of India, found ancient priestly chants attributed to the earliest vestiges of human speech, with singers appearing to imitate birds. Mothers talk to babies, it is said, in a parody of bird talk. Mabey, too, wonders if the reverence shown the nightingale reflects "the human species' first venture into music". Yet it seems more than a mere step on the evolutionary chain, an early draft of Bach or Schubert. The song is consummate.Michael Wood, in his recent TV history of India, found ancient priestly chants attributed to the earliest vestiges of human speech, with singers appearing to imitate birds. Mothers talk to babies, it is said, in a parody of bird talk. Mabey, too, wonders if the reverence shown the nightingale reflects "the human species' first venture into music". Yet it seems more than a mere step on the evolutionary chain, an early draft of Bach or Schubert. The song is consummate.
Digitisation has enabled ornithologists to dismantle birdsong and reveal its extraordinary complexity. A bird can deliver as many as 150 notes a second. A nightingale's tiny larynx can reputedly produce four notes at once, even with its mouth full. The Royal Opera does not need a voice coach, just a chef.Digitisation has enabled ornithologists to dismantle birdsong and reveal its extraordinary complexity. A bird can deliver as many as 150 notes a second. A nightingale's tiny larynx can reputedly produce four notes at once, even with its mouth full. The Royal Opera does not need a voice coach, just a chef.
The nightingale can still send a shiver down any spine. On Monday we heard the BBC's prewar recording of the cellist Beatrice Harrison playing in her garden to the accompaniment of a nightingale, attracting a million listeners and 50,000 messages of thanks. Despite the opposition of Lord Reith, who called it "tinned nightingale", the duet was repeated each year until the sound of an intrusive bomber led the war office fatuously to order it stopped. Spies might detect the bomber. The recording, of nightingale and Londonderry Air, survives, and is the loveliest thing on YouTube.The nightingale can still send a shiver down any spine. On Monday we heard the BBC's prewar recording of the cellist Beatrice Harrison playing in her garden to the accompaniment of a nightingale, attracting a million listeners and 50,000 messages of thanks. Despite the opposition of Lord Reith, who called it "tinned nightingale", the duet was repeated each year until the sound of an intrusive bomber led the war office fatuously to order it stopped. Spies might detect the bomber. The recording, of nightingale and Londonderry Air, survives, and is the loveliest thing on YouTube.
Mabey's story had a sting in the tail. Last year, the BTO nightingale survey revealed that Lodge Hill on the Medway's Hoo peninsula was home to probably the biggest concentration of nightingales in Britain – some 90 pairs, or 2% of the remaining population. "If there is a better nightingale site in Britain, we don't know of it," said the BTO. Natural England immediately declared Lodge Hill a site of special scientific interest.Mabey's story had a sting in the tail. Last year, the BTO nightingale survey revealed that Lodge Hill on the Medway's Hoo peninsula was home to probably the biggest concentration of nightingales in Britain – some 90 pairs, or 2% of the remaining population. "If there is a better nightingale site in Britain, we don't know of it," said the BTO. Natural England immediately declared Lodge Hill a site of special scientific interest.
The result has been fury from Medway council and the property developers Land Securities. They had chosen Lodge Hill for an estate of 5,000 houses. The council leader, Rodney Chambers, asked: "What hope does the country have of beating the economic downturn when infrastructure and housing projects like this are being stalled?" As for the nightingales, the government has offered what it calls a "biodiversity offsetting scoping report". This is Whitehall-speak for telling the birds to go somewhere else.The result has been fury from Medway council and the property developers Land Securities. They had chosen Lodge Hill for an estate of 5,000 houses. The council leader, Rodney Chambers, asked: "What hope does the country have of beating the economic downturn when infrastructure and housing projects like this are being stalled?" As for the nightingales, the government has offered what it calls a "biodiversity offsetting scoping report". This is Whitehall-speak for telling the birds to go somewhere else.
Development there must be, and occasionally this means beyond the bounds of existing settlements and intruding on the countryside. But I draw the line at nightingale country. These birds are nature's composer, conductor, performer and instrument in one. Their song ranks as supreme exemplar of Mabey's "mysterious emergence of beauty from matter". They are exquisitely precious and now alarmingly threatened.Development there must be, and occasionally this means beyond the bounds of existing settlements and intruding on the countryside. But I draw the line at nightingale country. These birds are nature's composer, conductor, performer and instrument in one. Their song ranks as supreme exemplar of Mabey's "mysterious emergence of beauty from matter". They are exquisitely precious and now alarmingly threatened.
I sense that Eric Pickles, his ministerial colleagues, Land Securities and Medway council have not a clue what I am talking about. I sense they could not tell a nightingale from a wood pigeon. That is the state of modern British planning.I sense that Eric Pickles, his ministerial colleagues, Land Securities and Medway council have not a clue what I am talking about. I sense they could not tell a nightingale from a wood pigeon. That is the state of modern British planning.
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