Rock 'n' Roll Nightjar

Ladies and Gentlemen, for one night only, I give you the rockin' Nightjars!

<Insert your favourite song here>

With backing vocals from the Irate Chiffchaffs!

This wonderful nightjar was found roosting at Kenworthy woods near Chorlton Water Park yesterday. I was walking in the Lake District at the time so had no chance of getting to see it and I thought my opportunity was gone because surely it wouldn't be present on the same branch this morning. I mean it only has to move 5m into the wood and you'd never find it. Surprisingly however, it was still present and correct at 7.30am today, in exactly the same spot.

So as long as it wasn't flushed by some <insert your favourite expletive(s) here>  trying to get too close for a photo, there was a good chance that it would still be there when we arrived early afternoon. Fortunately it hadn't been disturbed and we had some nice views of it. All photos and video in this post are phone-scoped.

This was only my second roosting nightjar, the last was a memorable bird on Hilbre Island in 2015. Great though that bird was, it didn't do much, it just sat there on a branch without moving and that was pretty much all that I expected today. It wasn't the case though, as this bird spent time preening and changing position on it's branch, and it preceded any movement by rocking from side to side, a behaviour that I've never seen before. Apparently this is all part of it's camouflage, it rocks to make itself look like it is a leaf blowing in the wind, the theory being that if it sat motionless and then suddenly preened, it would be more obvious than if it rocked slowly and then preened. I suppose there is some logic in that.

The chiffchaffs weren't fooled.

Apparently it was chiffchaffs and other small birds harassing it which first drew the attention of the finder, who thought at first that they might have been having a go at an owl.

Also today a spotted flycatcher, my first of the year.