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| Article featured in Limosa limosa, May/June 2006. No 87. © Brian Stone |
| This
was one of those chance finds that might never have happened. We were
supposed to be going cycling but due to a dodgy hip decided to go for a
short walk instead. Old Sulehay was selected for the Bluebells, which
were nice and Karen found a Glow-worm larva on the path there; a
promise of the fireworks to come later in the year. Nuthatches were
very vocal but otherwise it wasn't very lively. We very nearly stayed in the wood but decided on a quick poke around in Stonepit Quarry on the off-chance some insects or reptiles were about. They weren't but while checking out a stony ridge a bird flushed from quite close to me. A raptor or a Cuckoo were my first thoughts but as it danced away from me white strips near the wingtips and large white corners to the tail made it obvious this was a male Nightjar! A few seconds in flight and it was further into the quarry out of sight behind trees. Astonished I turned to the others, but they had been searching the other side of the ride and had not seen a thing. What to do next? Well this is potential breeding habitat, although not ideal and rather badly disturbed a lot of the time, so announcing its presence to the world was hardly appropriate. We certainly weren't going to risk flushing it again in the daytime so I decided it would be best to inform the warden then come back at dusk and just listen for it to call or sing. To my great surprise it actually showed again in the evening, for four of us (Will Bowell, Steve Dudley, Mike Weedon and myself), feeding around birch trees near the centre of the quarry but it didn't make a sound. The silhouetted form appeared several times flitting around the trees but before it was really dark failed to show again and presumably continuing on migration following a short feed. Nightjars are scarce summer visitors, not normally seen in the PBC area. The last report was one disturbed on the nature reserve at Ferry Meadows CP on 8 August 1997. The nearest breeding birds are some distance away in the Brecks. Being a secretive, crepuscular species with a cryptic plumage providing excellent camouflage it is not often located on migration. They are dependant on a supply of nocturnal flying insects so tend to be one of the later summer migrants to arrive and this one appeared at the beginning of the expected period. The earliest ever for Northamptonshire was on 5 May 1987. It ceased breeding in the county in the mid-1980s. A survey in 2004 showed at least 4,500 males in the UK; an increase on previous surveys helped by heathland restoration programmes and sympathetic forest management. It is one of 40 species on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern due to its small and vulnerable breeding range. |
| Goatsucker ‘unblocked’ |
| A Nightjar in the PBC area, 14th May 2006 |
