Instead of heading North East towards Bury St Edmonds and our usual Nightjar site at West Stow, we decided to try another site in Surrey this year. So it was a trip around the M25 to Chobham Common. The plan was to park at either Staple Hill or Jubilee Mount car park, but these plans were scuppered by road resurfacing work. We had to make other plans and decided to park at Monument car park and try to find a suitable spot from there.
We took the main path onto the heath and found an ideal area. The sun was dropping below the trees and by 9.15 we had our first view of a Woodcock. It flew straight past us just above the heather. Just fifteen minutes later the first Nightjar started churring.
By 10pm we had seen ten Woodcock and heard several Nightjars one or two would allow quick glimpses of individuals as they flew between trees. The best was still to come, two Nightjars appeared from behind us and came so close we could have touched them!
When we set off from home, we had no idea what to expect, but safe to say we will be back next year.
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| Almost a full moon |
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