I don't believe I've ever posted about our favourite nightjar site on this blog before. This was our first nightjar watching evening this year. We had planned to come here to Staple Plantation in May but somehow it never happened, nor early June. But tonight we were not disappointed. Normally we have the place to ourselves but tonight we were joined by two men who'd, while on a fishing holiday at St Audrie's Bay, wished to experience these magical birds of the night and had been told this was a good site. One of them had never seen a nightjar before and was rewarded just before 10pm with one flying just a couple of metres from us at head height. We later saw another (or the same) bird flying elsewhere in the Plantation.
It never cease to amaze me how magical it is encountering these quite mysterious birds. Their emergence at dusk is almost to time each time we go there. Same routine, emerging at one area, they move to the middle section before heading off into the valley nearby where a number of birds can be heard churning into the darkening night. One day I maybe should explore the valley but it's huge and we'll wooded, seeing the birds might be interesting. So for the moment we'll simply keep to our tried and tested location, complete with a flask of tea.
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