Music to illuminate the darkness

FOR a bird that is seldom seen, and one that few people outside the birding community would recognise, the nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) is not only remarkably well known, it’s a global celebrity. At one time, British Rail used the nightingale to advertise train journeys to locations where passengers could experience the finest bird song. Poets have run out of words to describe the nightingale’s song and, without doubt, more people have heard people singing the nightingale’s praises than have heard the bird.

Halfway in size between a robin and a song thrush, the famous vocalist is a long-legged, rufous-brown thrush belonging to a genus that has recently), the bluethroat () and the little-known (and unhelpfully named) white-bellied redstart () of eastern Asia.