Nightingales past and present
The BBC Radio 3 Slow Radio broadcast of Nightingales responding to six soloist muscians played on Monday early morning this week is now available to listen again:
As part of the same slow radio series you can also take part in their quiz to see which bird song you can recognise - click here to test your knowledge
Listening to this Nightingales responding to musicians in Surrey also put me in mind of one of the first ever field recordings of wildlife on national radio, which had a huge effect on the nation. On 19th May 1924 a recording was played on BBC radio of Beatrice Harrison a famous cellist playing in the woods near to her home and a nightingale responding to her in what became a very famous duet.
Another poignant recording of nightingales was made in the same garden but the recording was interupted by 197 bombers (Wellingtons and Lancasters) flying overhead on their way to raids in Mannheim. You can hear both of these recordings in this BBC article