WILDLIFE WATCH Nightingales

This was a tricky one to expose for because of the contrast between the warm sunlight and the darker woodland behind Canon EOS-1D X, 700mm, 1/1250sec at f/5.6, ISO 800

AS NIGHT gives way to the encroaching dawn the still, cool air is punctured by loud, liquid notes. It is loud. Much louder than you would expect, the nightingale's sound is also arguably the most beautiful of all British songsters.

Nightingales prefer tangled woodland, particularly coppiced areas with astart().