Thursday 4th June 2020 - A day-roosting Nightjar at Trinity Hill, Axminster, Devon

To see a Nightjar in daylight is unusual. Personally, I've never seen one at rest during the day. Let alone find a roosting bird myself. And so I've never had the privilege to marvel, in good light, at their intricate cryptic 'dead-branch' mottled plumage of browns, greys, black and buff-white. Until this recent encounter that is.

During a walk on Tuesday afternoon I flushed a Nightjar, catching no more than a glimpse of that unmistakable shape as it slipped silently away into the woodland. This morning, Thursday, I crept back to the general area for a really patient look around. Have to say that my expectation was not running that high. But, I got lucky!

"Approaching the area I cautiously inch forward taking a long time to study all the bushes through the binoculars as the sight lines change; looking through bracken and into bramble patches and bushes; carefully scanning every area of bare earth and heap of broken branches. A real challenge with "haystacks" and a "needle" coming to mind!
And then ... wow, suddenly between 2 pieces of foliage, there he is (because it was male bird), no more the 20m in front of me, eyes closed, still sleeping, resting on a horizontal branch. Incredible... I nearly drop my bins! (One of my best birding moments ever without question and capturing a picture in my minds-eye which I will long remember). Slowly, very slowly I raise my camera which thankfully I always set on silent. Pressing the release twice, taking a silent burst of 2 and then a burst of 3 shots. That is it. One last look through the bins to make sure I'm not dreaming and I retreat leaving him, undisturbed ... continuing his roost".

A magical encounter lasting less than a minute.

A fantastic male (European) Nightjar. What a moment - to get as close as I did for a shot like this one without disturbing the camouflaged beauty. A nice find and top fieldcraft if I do say so myself!!