Local Dragons, Damsels and Nightjars - Saturday 27th June 2015

I was having busy day on Saturday 27th June, but found myself with a couple of opportunities to check out a couple of local sites, which I thought I'd share with you, if only to show there's more to my birding life than just twitching ;-)

Early afternoon, in between the weekly shop and putting up a new tent (to test it), I bought a salad and popped to Denso-Marton Nature Reserve in Baildon to have my dinner. The weather was beautiful and seemed an opportunity I shouldn't waste. Denso is lovely little reserve, and particularly good for bugs - something I've been getting interested in a lot more recently.

Azure Damselfly, Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon - Saturday 27th June 2015

Large Red Damselfly, Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon - Saturday 27th June 2015

Large Red Damselfly (with moth prey), Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon 

Saturday 27th June 2015

 Banded Demoiselle (female), Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon - Saturday 27th June 2015

Iris Sawfly, Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon - Saturday 27th June 2015

Small China-mark Moth, Denso-Marston Nature Reserve, Baildon - Saturday 27th June 2015

Later that day, after the tent-checking and the washing and and the picking up kids and the BBQ, etc, my friend Joel, aka @Cleckbirder, got in touch about going looking for Nightjars. A great idea - the perfect weather for it.

We went to a site I knew near Otley, arriving around 21:30. I'd been here twice this year already, without success, but still had high hopes for the site. We had a roding Woodcock before we were barely out of the car, and at least one other passing over repeatedly later.

The Nightjars started churring around 22:00, one distantly at first, then another very close. The churring stopped and restarted a little over to our right. In the twilight, Joel picked out a a tell-tale shaped silhouetted in a bare tree: the male Nighjtar churring away. We could see its head moving from side to side and hear the corresponding changes in the churring song.

Nightjar, Otley, West Yorkshire - Saturday 27th June 2015

Two females then flew right over our heads, seemingly coming from a field of grassy pasture behind us. At one point the churring male stopped briefly and dropped a couple or branches down the tree. A hunting Tawny Owl passed over it, and the Nightjar resumed it's position and restarted churring.