The Nightingale Chorus

Nightingales to be heard in Wakefield once more….

May 2nd 1865. On this night at 11 o’clock two nightingales were singing melodiously in the Park at Walton Hall.

This is the last entry in the notebook of Charles Waterton, the Wakefield naturalist, explorer and pioneering conservationist. He died 150 years ago in 1865.  

From May 2015 Wakefield Museums and Countryside will mark this anniversary to celebrate Waterton’s incredible life and commemorate his legacy.

As part of the Nightingale Festival Wakefield Museums have taken inspiration from Nightingales singing melodiously and have created a chorus of Nightingales across the city.  Venues across the city will be playing snippets of beautiful and entrancing Nightingale song on 2 May, 27 May and throughout June.

There is also an exciting programme of events and activities planned as part of the festival including a spectacular exhibition at Wakefield Museum, a Waterton comic, artist commissions, workshops, talks and much more.

For more information about the Nightingale Festival

www.wakefield.gov.uk/nightingale

@WFMuseums #Waterton150

Further information about Nightingales:

Latin name: Luscinia megarhynchos

Nightingales are a bit bigger than a robin, with plain brown feathers. They are difficult to spot, and like to hide in thick bushes. The nightingale is on the amber list for conservation in the UK. Numbers fell by over 50% between 1995 and 2008, due to a decline in its preferred habitat  You are now extremely unlikely to see a nightingale in Wakefield.  They are found in the south east – Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Kent & Sussex. Despite the name, nightingales also sing throughout the day.  It is the males that sing. The collective noun for nightingales is a watch.