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We went on holiday last week to the New Forest, which has been described as a 'disappointing' place to see birds, but to city-dwelling novices, we thought, surely ancient woodland is always going to harbour some kind of birding wonder.
So at the campsite I borrowed some binoculars from the reception hut, because mine are broken and the man behind the desk sensed I was on the lookout for birds. He told me the exact location where I could hear a nightjar calling in the early evening.
Nightjars are ugly beasts. It's as if physical beauty is not a consideration in the genetic make-up of a nightjar. Camouflage is the only thing that matters; the more they look like rotting lichened bark, the better. The sound they make is the more compelling reason to search them out. I think they win the prize, so far as my knowledge extends anyway, for the bird that sounds most like an analogue synth. Its call is a constant whirr, fluctuating in pitch, with a very fast LFO, almost creating a frequency modulation effect. Check it out here, at about 2 minutes in:
We went out to the appointed place, a T-junction some way into the forest behind the campsite. We got there at about half six, before the sun had properly begun to set and there was nothing there except a squealing squirrel and possibly a female pied flycatcher, and lots of bloodthirsty mosquitoes. It was evident we were being bitten and this made it very difficult to stay in one place for long, which is necessary if you want to properly birdwatch with patience.
We went back a few hours later, and then again the next day when it was properly dark, but we still couldn't hear the elusive nightjar. Perhaps it was a little too late in the season. The following morning, I couldn't find the man in the reception who had promised us our nightjar. Perhaps we had gone to the wrong place.
Our final excursion in the dark did however yield a few pangs of wildlife excitement: a little frog hopping around on the floor and some glow worms in the woodland mulch at the side of the path.
All conquests are rewarding in one way or another.
