Fritham Plain is only a few miles from Nomansland so I've headed there a few times for evening runs. On previous times it had been cold and windy, but yesterday at dusk, it was warm and still, excellent conditions for certain crepuscular heathland birds.
I parked by the Oak and headed onto the Plain at about 9 p.m., greeted by a dusk chorus of Song Thrushes, Chaffinches, Robins and a Redstart. When the Sun went down, though, it was a stranger chorus alltogether. First the bubbling call of a Curlew, a few pairs of which breed on the bogland in these parts. Then a bizarre 'drumming', which signalled the presence of some displaying Snipe, another breeding wader.
I'd about given up on the true target species, though, when i heard a very faint churring sound.
My imagination? No, there it was again. A quick scramble across some heather and there it was agian, but louder this time, and now unmistakeable. Nightjar. The goat sucker. The last time I'd encountered this species was in the Cevennes many years ago, and that memory has almost faded. I crept across the heather towards the constant churring, and was rewarded, as in the dying light, the bird's silhouette appeared above the skyline. In the few seconds it was in view, it gave a wing-clapping display and then dropped away and began churring somewhere else.
The goat sucker is a summer visitor and another New Forest speciality, the old name deriving from an old belief that they sucked Goat's milk at night. A very mysterious bird, I'll hopefully get a few more chances to catch up with them this spring.
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