This trip was the one which should have taken place on 7th June, but had to be rescheduled after the National Trust closed parts of the park as a result of damage to a number of trees resulting from the recent gales.
The 13th of June, in contrast presented a warm still evening which meant that we had to wait longer than normal for the Nightjars to appear. Interestingly, in such perfect conditions, one would have expected to get at least as many species as we did on our visit on the 23rd May. However this was not to be with 39 recorded and yet we clocked Mandarin, Greenfinch and Tawny Owl which we didn’t record last time. That being as it may, the stars of the show were again the Nightjars and the Woodcock. The latter treated us to some marvellously close views with as many as four flying at once making their squeaking calls. The first churring of the Nightjars happened at 21:46, a good half an hour later than on the previous trip. Also, they weren’t churring as frequently until around about 22:20. However, we did get to see a male and a female flying together on several occasions, complete with a bit of wing clapping and ‘yelping’ from the male.