Nightingale, Lesvos.

One of the sounds of Lesvos is the Nightingale, wherever you go they can be heard. From the hotel grounds where we stayed, from roadside bushes as you drive by, in riverside vegetation, concealed in trees on hillside tracks etc. etc. Few people pay them much attention because of their numbers and not many try and see them because of this but also because they are very difficult to catch out in the open. We always stop to listen to their song because it is so varied and beautifully composed with audacious phrasing and soaring clear notes.
There is a small bridge over a slow moving river where we always stop to listen to these birds and it is where there is, with patience, a good chance of seeing them. They sing all day and night from these areas but in the evening is best in this particular location because there are less people passing by in cars and you can then really listen to their song.
We were standing on this little bridge just listening to the evening’s performance when I could see the vegetation moving, so I got my camera ready and sure enough a bird began to make its way out of hiding and on to a branch. They will do this from time to time and the best way to see them is to just wait for them to appear.





I always love to see them because I think they are really special birds that enrich our lives with their song.