Friday 10 May – Highnam Woods Leader: Lewis Thomson

Fifteen of us met in the evening in the hopes of hearing Nightingale in one of their last local strongholds. Lewis, the RSPB warden for Gloucestershire, led us around the reserve explaining how they manage it for the iconic songsters. He pointed out many different fauna and flora and answered our questions on these topics. The reserve has many species of insect; we did not see too many on this trip but sounded a good excuse to visit again in the summer. We saw Newts and Tadpoles as well as hearing many Song Thrushes, some who try to mimic the Nightingale song. Other species like Blackcap sang and several Great Spotted Woodpeckers were seen. We heard two Nightingales, one was not singing as much – Lewis said it was paired up – and the other gave us an excellent demonstration of its repertoire. Let?s hope they continue to survive here so there are more opportunities to hear them in the future. Later that night we were treated to an excellent display of the Northern Lights. Many thanks to Lewis for leading the walk. Nick Page