Field trips for Cinderellas?

Nightjar - Richard Crossley, CC BY-SA 3.0 httpscreativecommons.org licensesby-sa3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Well, we did get home by midnight, but not much before that.

The 6 July field trip to Holt Heath to hear nightjars and hunt for glow-worms was the second after-dark field trip this year, following the bat walk at Old Wardour Castle in April.  

Meeting at a nearby pub for supper before venturing out was a welcome innovation before the excitement of wending our way down the track in the dark.  

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​Nightjars didn't disappoint, although this 'video' doesn't do justice to the drama. The sound is very faint (but try ear phones) but at least it proves we did hear them - and more than one gave us a bit of a fright by flying up right by where we were walking.  This  clip from the BBC's Countryfile last year (sorry, early visitors, I should have said it's near the end, at 48 minutes), though, is perhaps a greater incentive to go and have a listen yourself.

Timo Newton-Syms from Chalfont St Giles, Bucks, UK, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

And it was really exciting to 'tick both boxes' of the advertised trip by finding a good half dozen glow worms on our way back - it needs to be completely dark for them to 'come out'.  Not so much glow, they rather sparkle like back-lit emeralds.  Really magic.

Romance for glow-worms is over for the year, but nightjars should be around till later this month before they set off back to sub-Saharan Africa.

Go to Field Trips/What you Missed for directions, if you'd like to have a go at this yourself.

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