Nightingales in November

The title of the book is, in a British context, intriguing. We don’t get Nightingales here in November, and this is what makes this an interesting read.

Choosing a mix of summer migrants, winter visitors and resident birds, Mike Dilger delves into their everyday lives throughout the year. Taking each month in order he explores what each species is doing, where it might be and how it interacts with the environment for each of the twelve months.

So, what might our Nightingales be doing in November? They will be singing from deep within Senegambian scrub, or at least some of them will. Not the full song that we hear here in the UK but a shorter version probably used to maintain a winter territory, or possibly just for practice; the song of the Nightingale is incredibly complex and might need some practice.

The beauty of this book is in the amount of information that Mike has included, there are many ‘I didn’t know that’ moments. Like the furthest known distance travelled by a young Tawny Owl; 687km, from the Scottish Highlands to Dyfed, Wales. Not bad considering BTO ringing recoveries show that the average distance travelled for a young Tawny Owl is only 4km.

My only niggle, and it is a tiny niggle, is that I found reading through all twelve birds in January, and then again for February, and again for March, and so-on a little irksome, but I solved this by mixing up the order I read the different chapters in.

Whether it is the stay-at-home Blue Tit, or the long-distance travelling Cuckoo, this book has something for everyone.

Book reviewed by Paul Stancliffe