During 2024 Birdwatch Ireland worked with both Wexford and Kilkenny County Councils to carry out a Nightjar survey in both counties. This is a migratory bird that was once common in the countryside but the with only sporadic records of breeding over recent decades, mostly in the south and south-east, the general consensus was that we had effectively lost Nightjars.
The aim of this survey was to try and confirm whether Nightjar still remain in Ireland and in the process, to learn more about this enigmatic species to help inform its conservation. The Nightjar survey was coordinated by BirdWatch Ireland and concentrated on some of the most suitable remaining areas for Nightjar in Counties Kilkenny and Wexford.
Conservation Officer with BirdWatch Ireland John Lusby, who coordinated the efforts, explained how the survey was carried out: “We used acoustic recording devices which were set to record bird song in the late evening and throughout the night in areas deemed to be suitable for Nightjar, which were typically low-lying hills with forest plantation and especially recently clear-felled forest surrounded by suitable foraging habitat, in the hope that we would detect the very distinctive and unmistakable song of Nightjar, thereby confirming its presence in an area”.
These survey efforts were rewarded when, within the many hundreds of hours of recordings, and among the songs and calls of many other bird species, the fabled ‘churring’ of Nightjar was detected from not one but two of the survey sites. Subsequent monitoring of these sites provided confirmation that one of these pairs bred successfully, marking what appears to be the only known Nightjar successful nesting in the country.
The survey was funded with support from the Local Biodiversity Action Fund from the National Parks and Wildlife Service.
For further information see the following video https://youtu.be/R00gkg5Qx_4
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