If you have never seen t he Nightjar, well you are not alone. As a nocturnal creature, you just get fleeting glances of it at dusk and at dawn. I went to Dersingham Bog Nature Reserve in North Norfolk at the weekend with the RSPB and had my first sightings of this strange bird. In fact it is only in silloette that you see it, but even that is a great sight, given the way it flies. Firstly, there’s the sound as it comes out. A ‘churring’ sound best desribes it, and it cannot be mixed up with any other bird. Incidentally, a Nightjar is also known as a Goat-Sucker!
Then it is on the wing and flaps around across the heathland, which is its favourite habitat. Whilst waiting a sighting, the Barn Owl and Short-Eared or Little Owl were a welcome sighting as was the Woodcock in flight. At one point the Nightjar sat next to a Short Eared Owl on a branch in the far distance. Even stanger!
Before Dersinham Bog, we went to the Sandringham Estate. Not much to say about the bird life, but I snapped a common bue damselfly and a Speckled Wood Butterfly.
Oh yes and apparently Pooh Bear lives here!
