European Nightjars

Brian Southern and I were extremely fortunate recently to spend an evening with Paddy Jenks at a North Pembrokeshire site studying European Nightjars.  As dusk fell the anticipated and almost expected Nightjar sites and sounds failed to materialise.

Despite the weather being cooler and breezier than predicted, and the distinct lack of visible or audible Nightjar action, Paddy put up a mist net and incredibly quickly caught 3 Nightjars - a male, and then a second male and a female simultaneously.  On 3 previous attempts in recent years Paddy had not caught any, so this was quite a surprise!  It was utterly captivating to be able to see these birds up close whilst Paddy swiftly and expertly measured, weighed and ringed them (under licence, of course).

When I came to live in Pembrokeshire at the end of the 1980s Nightjar had seemingly been lost as a breeding bird in the County.  The 1984-1988 Breeding Bird Survey recorded churring males in 5 localities but breeding could not be proven.  I can remember trying several likely sites in the 1990s with Trevor Price, but always drawing a blank (except for biting insects, which we discovered in abundance).  The follow up Atlas of Breeding Birds 2003-07 makes no mention of the species breeding at all.

So it was something of a pleasant surprise when Brian and Paul Grennard recorded a churring male in the Preselis in 2021, and since then birds have been recorded at 3 sites (at least).  I managed to see and hear my first bird in 2023: it was magical and my first European Nightjar experience.  Let's hope sympathetic forest management can enable this species to be successful as a breeding species in Pembrokeshire in the years to come.

A few photos and a video (of the second male being released) below, taken whilst Paddy went about his work.

The first male about to be released

The wing of the second male

The wing of the female

Our eternal thanks to Paddy for giving of his time and superb experience and knowledge.  We learnt a lot about Nightjars in a short space of time!