Wednesday evening I went and joined 25 others to do a count of churring male nightjars. I was initially surprised to see so many folk (mainly male out of interest – no correlation with the survey!?). The reason for this number soon became apparent. The group was to be divided up into pairs due to the nature of the terrain.
Ash Ranges, a large area (1392 ha) owned by the MOD to the North West of Guildford is an area of heathland, including, pine and bracken used for army exercises and shooting practice. The area is easy to get lost on and it has numerous hazards such as unexploded ordinance. The neighbouring range area of Pirbright is more hazardous in this regard.
The group was made up of Range personnel, Surrey Wildlife Trust employee’s, BTO and Surrey Bird Club members. We were all given a specific map of the area and an aerial photo of the same. Jo our driver warned us of holes on our section to be aware of.
Whilst waiting for our transport (due to not all fitting in the landrover) James Adler from SWT kept us informed after a couple of questions from my partner, of the cattle, the late arson attacks and a personal view of ponies and conservation. He also spoke about Pirbright Ranges and compared the two ranges. It was a real privilege to hear and be a part of this place which is very much in my blood having visited it on and off over the years since childhood.
The landrover eventually appeared after dropping off the other pairs and we were taken to our drop off by the Old Engine Shed. (I would love to know more history of this and Pirbright Ranges). This building was covered in vegetation, according to the map there used to be a tramway close by, I guess something to do with the same building.
The evening was bright with varying cloud cover making the sky a real varied canvas. The wind was strong, from the west and quite brisk when in exposed areas otherwise the little valleys we encountered within our section were very sheltered.
In total we encountered 4 churring males, two of which were outside our area but close to the edge of it. Two birds showed really well, although I couldn’t see one of those as well as my partner. The second one came right over our heads about 3 meters up from our heads. It was quite difficult at times to judge where the churring came from as they nightjars as said in my previous article move their heads slowly from side-to-side.
We met 3 other pairs whilst out and about two of those were on the sides which were on the edges of our patch. The last pair which included James Adler were waiting under a tree when we got back to the same rendezvous point. They had heard 8 churring males.
It turned out to be quite a late evening. Our patch took us around two hours to complete. In that area we came across a pond which was very dark and mysterious. I had not encountered it before but had heard that there was one in the vicinity. The paths we covered were not entirely easy to see even if it had been during the day time. Crossing through large areas of bracken can be disconcerting as it does look the same.
We aslo heard cuckoo and saw one flying over with drooping wings and making the un-often heard bubbling sound; we also heard Dartford warbler and a number of woodcock but saw neither.
I look forward to hear the results of the survey.