Imagine, you’re walking through the New Forest on a warm summer evening. You suddenly hear a soft churring. It stops and you think nothing of it. But then! Something glides just above your head, perhaps a merlin or a small kestrel. If this sounds at all familiar, then you may have encountered a European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus). When I personally had this experience, I was utterly fascinated by their behaviour and they quickly became a favoured bird species. Being confined to heathland or young conifer forest, their range within the UK is limited. However, the New Forest boasts residency for nearly 10% of the UKs territorial male population.  

Being largely crepuscular, they are mainly witnessed at dawn and dusk. Elusive and stealthy, these mysterious birds put on a fascinating display of aerial aerobics. Seen gliding a few metres above the ground, spending moments hovering before swooping in a figure of eight (see video below). They may be catching invertebrates on the wing, warding off fellow males or performing to observing females. Males and females can be difficult to distinguish without accompanying gendered behaviours, however, males have white markings on the underside of their primary wing feathers. What’s more, a sloppy ‘smack’ is also indicative of a male performing a mating display. The noise is created from their wings being clapped together in flight and can also be used to fight off male intruders and win female affection. The illusion of their small bird of prey silhouette is created by the ‘V’ position of their wings and fanned tail feathers when in the air.   

The males ‘churring’ is their most iconic behaviour, as it can be heard up to 2 miles away! Being a brave and feisty species, this churr is emitted exclusively by males to protect and maintain their territory. Besides this, they have a ‘qwak’ call which functions predominantly as social and contact calls for both genders.  

In breeding season between May and August, their grey and brown cryptic plumage provides excellent camouflage for when females are incubating eggs on the ground among shrub, bracken or heath. They can have 2 broods a year, laying only 1 or 2 eggs. It is crucial that they are not disturbed when rearing chicks as they have been known to abandon nests. They are the only species from the family Caprimulgidae to breed in Europe, and characterised by a wide gape and small bill surrounded by barbless feathers; traits that caused a century-old myth that nightjars drank goats' milk straight from the udders. We of course now realise they were more interested in the invertebrates that were attracted to livestock pens. 

As a long-range migrant species they travel twice a year to and from their wintering grounds in Africa. Records have been documented in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Angola. They spend 6-8 weeks on their journey and leave the UK in August and return the following April-May. There are just under 5000 breeding males in the UK with this number steadily increasing with protective efforts established in their preferred habitats. These efforts include sections of the New Forest designated as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for nightjars (along with other bird species, such as Dartford warbler and honey buzzard). To monitor population numbers Forestry England commission a project every 5 years. With the assistance of HIWWT over 100 transects are surveyed by an array of staff and volunteers to map the location of territorial males. 

The survey transect routes are split into two visits, one at the start of peak activity season at the mid to end of June, and another at the latter end of peak activity in July. Each survey needs to be 3 weeks apart to compare location records and confirm territories. Nightjars are in decline internationally and listed as Amber on the Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK and I wanted to share some knowledge and raise awareness about this species. I know I did not know much about them before this project and as a trainee, I am rather enthusiastic about the wonders of the UK I am constantly learning about.  

On my surveys, I had the assistance of non-ecology staff, a university student on an internship and a Forestry England shadow ranger. They all had wonderful feedback about this lesser-known species, with a huge amount of luck in seeing them up close. 

It certainly was a unique experience and walking through the New Forest at night among thick woodland or towering gorse, surrounded by wild horses and performing nightjars was magical. It is no wonder these birds hold special symbolism in Celtic and African culture, being a positive omen for wisdom, adaptability, guidance and resilience.   

Members of the public from all over Hampshire got involved, with huge success. If I haven’t convinced you just how wonderful it was, one of the volunteers and member of HIWWT staff, Tom Hilder, had this to say: 

‘Thank you for giving me the opportunity to do these surveys, I have thoroughly enjoyed doing them and have made some memories I will never forget! I have seen some extraordinary behaviour from the nightjars, transects 94, 95, 103, 104 appear to be absolutely buzzing with them! I have recorded it on the form, but on transect 104 at roughly 10pm three birds were flying around my head, coming within 5m. They appeared to be chasing each other relentlessly. This went on for about 5 minutes until they landed on the path about 10m in front of me. It appeared to be two males and a female. The two males looked as if they were fighting - running into each other and then jumping up into the air for a small aerial battle before falling to the ground and repeating the process. The female (I assume - I didn't see any white patches unlike on the other two) just sat there and watched for about 5 minutes. They then took off in a three and continued to fly around my vicinity calling and wing clapping. It certainly was a once in a lifetime encounter, getting to be so close and observe this behaviour.’ 

If you want to get involved look out for volunteering opportunities in five years’ time! Other things you can do to help include staying on the path and keeping dogs on leads when in the New Forest between May and August.