Roger Baker 3 wrote:

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That info off Bill would tie in with my history of Brushes .. started going up around 1961 for various reasons but I would not have been allowed out late at night.
The older lads at school who went nesting knew about the Nightjars ..... I would have been all ears !

The habitat has all changed round now over the years, on both Brushes Valley and T'Harridge with trees maturing .... the key being the birch scrub and heather with bare patches (think this is where the burn helped on Wildbank ?).

As Pete Berry mentions about putting in the time and effort , especially at dawn and dusk, I do think it would be probable (???
) for others to be found .... not only in this valley as they have been moving steadily over Yorkshire and Derbyshire.

Anyway, it's great fun trudging about in the dark, tripping over rocks in the rain with mozzies biting lumps out of you ..... give it a go ... you don't know what you're missing !

Roger.

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This site used to be Bill Underwoods local patch until he moved to Arnfield in 1978!

Nightjars last bred in 1961 on the wooded slopes of Harridge. It was a traditional site and both Barry Walker and Bill looked for them in the early 1970s with no success. Ironically a bird was heard churring very early one morning by a Stalybridge dentist called John Pickup when he was fly fishing on Brushes Reservoir in 1969. Feel free to divulge to whoever you want.

Info thanks to Bill Underwood

Evening visit with Simon Gough, nice to see Andy Makin & co.

As Karen says, 2 Nightjar seen last night.
Heard churring, then calling, then decent flight views against the moor to right of the Res occasionally breaking the skyline.

Other birds of note...
- Common Buzzard 1
- Kestrel 2
- Lesser Redpoll 2, more heard
- Tawny Owl few heard close by

Pete you are right, that's ironic as I was telling Simon last night the very same thing. When we were kids (in the 70's and 80's) my Dad used to take us birdwatching to Brushes on a weekly basis during the summer and we used to see all sorts, and I remember him saying there were Nightjars on the Brushes moors. Although I'm sure I can remember hearing them, we never actually saw them there.
Shortly after that if my memory serves me correctly, a spate of arsen wiped out a lot of ground nesters habitat, and I remember my Dad was gutted as we all were!

nightjar seen this evening above brushes reservoir at 10.30 , had churred a few times earlier from the usual area on the otherside of the valley, 7 birders present tonight who all saw the bird including ian campbell, john raynor and congrats to john tromans on his 200th county bird, county tick for me and ian campbell.

Chris Everett wrote:

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where are the sandpiper we have not seen any this year

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Chris,

If you familiarise yourself with the call of the Common Sandpiper, then sit for ten minutes on the bench in your profile photo, you should locate them.

Any updates on the nightjar would be welcome this week please,  just back of holiday but unable to go until Saturday evening due to work commitments,  thanks Brian. 

2 visits and bites all over my legs and arms to see the very elusive Nightjar. Thanks to Steve for spotting the proverbial needle in a haystack and letting everyone take a look through his scope. Thanks to Karen for sharing the find.