The Festival starts with a “Children’s Nightingale Fun Evening” on Saturday 3rd May (8pm until 10pm) – an evening of fun and games, followed by a short guided walk in the dark.  Visitors are asked to bring a torch.  Aimed at ages 6+, under 15s must be accompanied by an adult.   Please book in advance (tel. 01480 451568); cost £2.00 per child.
 
Join the experts on Tuesday 6th May (7.30pm until 9.00pm) for the “Nightingale Serenade”.  Free guided walks leave the Visitors’ Centre every ten minutes.
 
 “Nightingales at Night”, on Thursday 8th May (9pm until 11pm) is a free guided walk for those who want to stay out a bit later and hear the song at its best.  Visitors are asked to bring a torch.

Early risers can hear the massed choir of birds on the “Dawn Chorus Walk” on Saturday 10th May, 5am until 8am (free), when nightingales are a certainty.

The final event is a musical celebration of birds and their springtime song.  “Birds in Folk Song” will be performed by popular folk singer Derek Gifford at the Visitors’ Centre on Tuesday 13th May at 8pm until 10.30pm.  Please book in advance for this joint event for The Friends and St Neots Folk Club (tel. 01480 451568; cost £5.00)

Trevor Gunton, one of the Festival organisers, said:

“Every year, in April, we are amazed that these wonderful birds make it back to us from West Africa.  As soon as they arrive, the males sing their hearts out to attract the females, which arrive later, flying at night.  Nightingales at Paxton Pits are on the northern edge of their global distribution, and are declining in the UK, so we feel very privileged that we have so many.”