The recording below is of a male Nightjar on Hartland Moor last night. On heathland all over Dorset Nightjar are becoming really active as they start to defend their territories and try to attract a mate. This bird was one of 8 vigorously flying about calling and churring. At the end of the recording you’ll hear the strange bubbling sound and numerous wing claps that the bird makes as it leaves its churring post, a sound seldom heard unless close to the bird. The sonagram shows the moment the Nightjar stops churring and starts wing clapping, with the sharp spike in the graph depicting each wing clap.

For a brief moment this morning the rarest and most infrequent spectacle of the year appeared, as the…
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