Return of the Nightjar

Fantastic display from the Nightjars last night in Matlock Forest. A male and female chasing each other through the woods with calling and wing clapping. Hopefully we've lost the wind now and its starting to warm up so there should be a few more moths on the wing for them.

The return of the Nightjar almost completes my list of summer visitors, the only one missing is the Wood Warbler which I have looked for. Numbers have continued to decline both nationally and locally over the past 20 years the BTO breeding bird atlas estimates the population may have fallen by as much as 65% and I fear we may have lost it from the local woodlands. There have been records just to the north from Padley Gorge  but it will be a sad loss if they are no longer in the Matlock to Bakewell area of the valley.

Nightjar