“Glory be to God for dappled things” (Gerard Manley Hopkins)
I was conscious on Friday last week of one of those liminal moments – stepping back (from the constant shadow of the climate crisis and the horror of Gaza) and stepping in to an astonishingly beautiful bluebell wood near Lewes in East Sussex.
I was there for one single purpose: to listen to a nightingale sing. I don’t really believe in ‘bucket lists’, but before Friday I’d never had that experience – this was a gap that just had to be filled.
With that weight of expectation, how easy it would have been to have been disappointed! Happily, absolutely not – we spent an hour in the powerful presence of a full-throated, endlessly versatile performer that was clearly intent on leaving an indelible memory – even while doing what he does all night long at this time of year to attract a mate!
I was there with the wonderful Sam Lee and his whole equally wonderful “Singing with Nightingales” team, with Kadialy Kouyate providing the lyrical accompaniment to the Nightingale on his Kora.
Increasingly, I need moments like this. I can’t just ‘soldier on’ in the way I once used to do. I often feel hollowed out. Bereft, even. And it’s not that I don’t spend quite a lot of time in Nature – I do, but haphazardly, fleetingly, not immersively.
Which is why I’m now seriously focused on three days in July (1st – 3rd) helping to facilitate The Change Collective at Sheepdrove Farm. No nightingales, but it’s an amazing, powerful place. Stepping back and stepping in — in the company of what I’m sure will be a very special group of people.
We all just need more Earth Days!
Details about The Change Collective can be found here: https://www.changeinnature.org/change-collective-2026
Jonathon Porritt 22.4.2026
