On Tuesday evening at 9:00pm my friend Cliff and I went for a walk along the old railway track that runs through the Secret Campsite. This piece of railway track is now dismantled, but it used to be part of the old bluebell railway line that connected London and Surrey to the Sussex coast. Now, it is a Site of Nature Conservation Interest, SNCI and is a space that is alive with wildlife. We were walking along the track hoping to hear the nightingales that nest each year along the track in the thicker shrub vegetation and we were delighted to hear two birds trying to outsing each other as little as a few yards apart. The nightingale seems to enjoy singing its heart out as the light fades and first thing in the morning and quite a few campers on the site have been thrilled to hear the song first thing in the morning or as they sit quietly around their campfires in the evening.
The nightingales song is incredibly varied, as you can hear, if you listen to a recording on the RSPB’s web site.
To add to the Secret Campsites wildlife excitement I saw an adder this morning basking quietly in the sunshine. They are an incredibly secretive reptile and I have only seen them here on a handful of occasions. They are becoming quite rare so this was good to see, although Sussex is a great county for them as they enjoy the edges of woodland where there is some long grass at the edges for shelter.
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