CONSERVATIONISTS are anxious to learn if any nightingales sing in the Vale of Evesham this year.
Fifty years ago there were hundreds, but a 1999 survey in Worcestershire found less than 50 singing males, summer visitors arriving during April and May from wintering quarters in southern Africa.
Worcestershire Wildlife Trust wants to know if any still return to the county and where they are found. Nightingales are secretive birds but their magnificent song gives them away. When they first arrive, the males sing all day and all through the night.
Harry Green, of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust, said: "Nightingales have nested in some woods and scrub areas in South Worcestershire in recent years and we want to know if they are still around."
He explained: "There is some hope that if we can encourage landowners to create the right kind of scrub or woodland near where nightingales already breed then others will settle nearby. For many years, Langdale Woods alongside the Three Counties Showground at Malvern has been a good place to hear them."
Anyone who hears a nightingale should call Worcestershire Wildlife Trust on 01905 754919.
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