A project to survey and understand as much as we can about the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) in the Forest of Dean, using a combination of observation, remote audio recording, field recordings, bio-acoustic analysis, ringing, telemetry, DNA sampling, photography and trail cameras. The project began back in 2002 but has grown both in its scope and methodology since that time.
This website collates some of the media that results from the project. Complete, accurate records and breeding data are submitted to the BTO and County Bird Recorder annually, as well as shared with the relevant land owner/manager. The project is funded by a combination of grants from Gloucestershire Naturalists’ Society, Forestry England, a lottery funded local conservation project and personal funds.
Most recent project updates and articles…
2024 Season Summary
The 2024 season began for BL on May 4th with a single male on a chilly evening at one of the GWT Reserves. This is a typical first date for…
2023 Season Summary
Our season started on May 7th, when BL visited sites G and AA and found singing males at both. May 10th is the average first report date for Gloucestershire, over…
Records Are There To Be Broken
In 2022, we came across a recording of a bird that sang for 18 minutes, 34 seconds continuously and suggested that this would be hard to beat. Turns out we…
Unusual Nightjar vocalisation
On May 25th we visited Site K, where there were reports of 2 males. At around 21:20 one of these birds started churring, some 100 metres away from us. About…
2022 Season Summary
Some things in life are even more important than nightjars. Once again, events conspired against the project this year with the result that as far as fieldwork was concerned, the…
18 minutes 31 seconds
We’ve been reviewing the data gathered by the first deployment of the AudioMoth recorders this season and came across this recording from site AO. Figure 1 shows the pattern of…