In the early 1990s at dusk I heard and saw a Nightjar flying over Rammamere Heath, adjacent to Rushmere Country Park in SW Bedfordshire. I have a particular love of Nightjars stretching back to when I first encountered them at Dunwich Heath in Suffolk and in particular when I was volunteering for a week at the RSPB reserve at Arne, Dorset in the late 1990s. Here I took part in dusk walks mapping the Nightjar's territories (I seem to remember 4 or 5 separate birds flying, 'churirng' away with the flash of the male's white wingbar if you were close enough). Over the years I have been back to Rammamore Heath a few times, but no repeat performance. A couple of evenings ago when we had a mainly clear sky, I thought I would retrace my steps and see if I was in luck. Whilst I stood on the edge of the heath enjoying the view as darkness fell, I was out of luck (perhaps a bit too windy?). I heard 2 cuckoos calling, but sadly no 'churring' of a Nightjar. Incidentally, at Rushmere Country Park, they are trying to encourage Nightjars by opening up some of the woodland in a closed area to keep the public away. So far, I understand that they have drawn a blank.
On my way up to the heath, I spotted this black silhouette of a bird against the darkening evening sky from about 80 yards away, taking this photo before it flew off.
Later at home I used Photoshop to reveal the bird, confirming my suspicion that the bird was indeed a Green Woodpecker.
No comments:
Post a Comment