Nature's greatest soloist returns to Kent shores from Africa to a quiet curtain call.

The rare and endangered bird is now thought to have less than 5,500 singing males nationwide, and to celebrate them, the national Nightingale Festival is staged from now until Thursday, May 31.

With fewer and fewer nightingales returning to our shores each year, the chances of hearing its famous song are so rare that the RSPB has got together with wildlife trusts and Sam Lee's Singing with Nightingales to put together a series of events to help people experience this natural wonder - and Kent is now probably the best place to hear the special bird.

The events include free guided walks in Medway at RSPB Cliffe Pools and RSPB Northward Hill and a one-off event on public rights of way near Lodge Hill, which is home to a colony threatened by development.

There is also walk at Wraik Hill, with Kent Wildlife Trust. And a series of unique events near Maidstone will combine live folk music and storytelling performed against the backdrop of the bird's song, organised by Sam Lee, the BBC Folk Award winner and Mercury Music Prize nominee.

Adrian Thomas, who helped put together the festival, said: "Nightingales only sing from mid-April to the end of May, but what a song. It combines power, virtuosity and variety, and of course the nightingales keep singing when other birds settle down for the night. Given that nightingales are so scarce these days, these events are the perfect opportunity to experience a piece of natural magic."

The festival coincides with Medway Council's consultation into its latest draft Local Plan, which includes development at Lodge Hill. There is a campaign calling on the council to remove the site from its plans, the #SaveLodgeHill campaign.

Events range from Thursday, April 19 at RSPB Northward Hill, near Rochester, with RSPB Medway Local Group to Sam Lee's Singing with Nightingales in Ashford on dates from Friday, April 20 to Saturday, May 26.

There is also a free walk on Bank Holiday Monday, May 7 at Leybourne Lakes with Bromley RSPB Local Group.

The events under the banner of the National Nightingale Festival are organised by several groups including the RSPB and in this county, the Kent Wildlife Trust.

For details of all events, visit rspb.org.uk/nightingalefestival. Some events need to be booked in advance.

Nightingale Facts:

Nightingales that sing throughout the night are thought to be single birds, trying to serenade migrating females down from the sky.

They build their nests on or just above ground level.

The date when nightingales arrive in the UK is getting earlier - it was more than a week earlier between 2006 and 2015 than it was between 1096 and 1993.

Nightingales can produce more than 1,000 different sounds, compared with just 340 by skylarks and about 100 by blackbirds.