Having left us last September to spend the winter sunning their feathers in West Africa, nightingales have flown across the Sahara and up through Iberia, all the way back to the woods of southern England.

This small, brown, rather plain bird looks a little like a slender robin without the red bib. But looks can be deceiving, and there’s more to the nightingale than meets the eye – this becomes abundantly clear when it opens its mouth to sing.

By the start of May, woodlands lucky enough to host this celebrated songster will resound with the beautiful, complex melodies that burst forth from the nightingale as it tries to attract a mate. Their dulcet song has inspired poets, musicians and artists for hundreds of years, and it’s easy to see why.

Each male may have a range of up to 180 different song elements, and they click, churr, gurgle, croak, whistle and trill with gusto until they attract a willing female. The more complex the song the more successful the bird will be.

Contrary to what their name suggests, nightingales don’t only sing at night. In fact, they are at their loudest first thing in the morning, so to maximise your chances of hearing one you will need to be up and in position at dawn. Even if you’re not a morning person, it’s worth the early start to experience the enchanting sound of a nightingale serenading its kin at the start of a brand new spring day.

Sadly, due to habitat loss and fragmentation this magical experience may be consigned to history before long. In Hampshire, nightingale numbers have fallen by 80% since the 1980s; the population has dropped to 61 – 65 pairs and their overall range has fallen by three quarters. There’s strong evidence that the loss of scrub habitat, particularly due to development and land use changes, has led to this shocking decline.

Nightingales are in crisis and need our help, so we’re working with the British Trust for Ornithology and Hampshire Ornithological Society to organise surveys in Hampshire and on the Isle of Wight during the nightingale’s breeding season to find out where the birds are nesting and which areas need protection. Armed with that information we will engage with local landowners and work with them to support nightingales on their land. Together we can protect these vital refuges for this wonderful species.

Visit www.hiwwt.org.uk/donate to support our conservation work to protect nightingales and other species across our two counties.