My first ever nightjar bird !

[Nicos]

I walked up the lane this evening to listen more closely to the frogs croaking by the river…and suddenly heard a strange metallic grating sound from above.
All in the pitch black so I couldn’t see a thing , so I hung around listening and realised there were three of them- one right above me and two further away. Absolutely fascinating!…never heard anything like that before
A quick gooooogle and it turns out they were nightjars!….
How absolutely fantastic That really has made my day/ evening !

Apparently they come here from SubSahara to breed .
The French name for a nightjar is a l’engoulevent - meaning wind swallower….It certainly didn’t sound like that, but maybe that’s one of its other calls?

Anyone know much about them?

[Containergardener]

Don't think we've had them here. Unusual sound. How lovely to hear though, maybe you'll hear more now.

[Nicos]

Absolutely!…I’ll be listening out again this evening.

[Snoop Puss]

Here in Spain, they're known as caprimúlgido. When we moved to our current home, in the province of Teruel, and I heard them for the first time, I dubbed them Pterueldactyls. Like you say, they have a really strange call.

[Andraste]

They're cute little things aren't they I had too Google as I didn't know what they look like but they are the epitome of 'you are what you eat' as to me their camouflage is so moth-like

[burnie]

Wind swallower probably comes from the fact they fly around with a rather large mouth wide open to catch moths and other flying bugs, tend to be on open heathland, certainly in England or the recently felled forest areas are also popular. We do get a few in Scotland, but I have not seen or heard one up here, only seen them in England.

[Nicos]

Thanks for that info Burnie…that reason didn’t jump to mind…I was thinking maybe they took in a big breath before their prolonged call…( total guess!) but clearly not!…bit like whales trapping krill then!
Lovely!

They were there again last night so I’m sort of sad to be going away on my holiblobs. Apparently they nest on the ground?…. Now Hibou isn’t here , nor next door’s cat, maybe they will stand a better chance of being successful.

[Vince G]

We get them in Suffolk up on the sandy coastal heathlands between Aldeburgh and Dunwich. I'm due a spring trip to Minsmere actually but a bit early for Nightjar still, never seen/heard one