Come Hear Kent's Nightingales

Adrian Thomas, who helped collate the Festival, said: "There's something about the nightingale's song that makes it so special: it has power, virtuosity, variety. And of course there's the fact that nightingales keep singing when other birds settle down for the night - the song just rings out of the darkness.

"Given that nightingales are so scarce these days, these events are the perfect opportunity to experience a piece of natural magic in the company of experts."

Folk singer Sam Lee, said: "Discovering the song of the nightingale was a transformative experience for me. In history and folklore, it has been the muse of artists and country folk for aeons, but I was not prepared for its sorrowful elegant beauty.

"Learning to sing with them and bringing some of the UK’s finest musicians to collaborate alongside this bird, has become a songful pilgrimage for me. It’s also made me as eager to draw attention to the fragility of these majestic singers as I am to not letting the old folk songs be lost to the silence.”

The dramatic decline of the nightingale in Britain is thought to be due to a variety of factors, including changes in woodland management, browsing by deer which removes the cover they need, climate change, deteriorating conditions in their African wintering grounds, and development pressures.

The largest population of nightingales in England is at Lodge Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest, Medway, but is under severe threat. It is protected specifically for its nightingales but Medway Council has proposed to allocate the land for the development of up to 5,000 houses, which would destroy the nightingales' habitat and set a dangerous precedent for protected places everywhere. The #SaveLodgeHill campaign is calling on Medway Council to change its mind.