Nightjar & Woodcock at Creech Wood.

Friday 13th May 2022.

The clearing at Creech Wood that holds all the action.

After some of the ‘Lazee Birders’ got successful with a trip to Creech Wood, Denmead; I decided to try my luck with seeing the Nightjars and hopefully a Woodcock at the same location and so after arranging a trip there the day before with birding colleague Andy Fisher, we made our way to this superb location. Last year, Andy went on his own and successfully saw a Nightjar, but on his own and without a near full moon like tonight, he said it was very dark and scary on the way back to his car. I brought along a torch!

This Song Thrush was in full song this evening.

We arrived just off the main road beside the car park around 8.30pm and made our way to the large clearing with the dead tree proudly at the western end. There was a bench to sit on at the site, but it was facing towards the woodland and so standing up looking south was the only but best option. Overlooking a large plantation of small pines, the area looked like a perfect habitat for Nightjars, but it took till 9.15pm for the show to begin!   

A near full moon lit up the area and we even had a moonlight shadow as we made our way back to the car.

Before all the action, we had sightings of a pair of Mistle Thrushes taking off from the ground, a pair of Med Gulls flying over and a Great Spotted Woodpecker passing overhead. With a background of both Robin and Song Thrush late evening song, all was set for a good night. There wasn't a cloud in sight and the moon was near, but there were a lot of midges and a few mosquitoes around judging by the buzzing by my ears and even a few small moths passed overhead. It was relatively mild too, without a drop of wind and so the scene was set. Then as 9.15pm approached, the first ‘churring’ Nightjar was heard.

Though a bird was heard several times to ‘churr’, it would not reveal itself and eventually, we think this bird flew off over the woodland to the west and disappeared over there to begin singing again. A few minutes later, we had our first Woodcock of the year flying over our heads and quickly putting Andy onto the bird, we watched the bird fly away from us and head off back over the woodland. Later, on the way back home through the woodland, it or a different bird was also heard flying over, but this time there was no sighting. 

Above, turn the sound up to hear the 'churring' male Nightjar and you can just make the bird out flying out of the trees a few times. Truly, a magical moment. 

Literally a few minutes later, our first Nightjar of the year (a female, we believe) flew over the clearing and flew into the nearby woodland and out of view. Then a male bird flew up and landed  in trees in front of us and began to ‘churr’ (see video), where it flew out several times and landed in the same trees to begin singing again. We gave it a few more minutes and as it was now getting very dark, we made our way back through the woodland. During our time there, I also heard some Tawny Owls calling, but no sighting. Nearing where our car was parked, Andy spotted a large bat above us and I was sure it was a Noctule Bat judging by the size of it, which was a nice ending for our successful trip here.