Back in the Summer of 2016.. I spent a few weeks returning to a known Nightjar hotspot in order to not just record a churring male Nightjar, but to do so in optimum recording conditions where there was little to no wind noise in the background. For those that have waited in the darkness to hear or see a glimpse of these iconic birds, you'll already know how hard it is to withstand the biting of thousands of midges, while trying to hear what at first sounds like a distant swarm of locusts riding the sound of the wind. That is of course till you get up close and hear just how peculiar the sound of the Nightjar really, especially for a bird. Individual male nightjars can be identified by analysing the rate and length of the pulses in their songs, so if I were to ever get this chance again in the same location, I could analyse my recordings to work out if it's the same male returning to the territory each year. It certainly would make a fascinating study. 

This sound has always baffled me, especially due to the way they use the song, sometimes singing for more than 10 minutes straight without taking a pause. They've learned to breath at the same time as churring, which is pretty incredible in itself. The very frequency of a Nightjars song and the way in which it produces these frequencies allow it to travel great distances, travelling up to 600 meters! (2,000 ft) in good conditions and easily heard at the 200 meter range.

I've shared this recording before, but I've remastered it, taking a lot of the filters off that I used to use. You can now hear it in it's true Raw form with background noise also. If you have good speakers or headphones, I'd recommend using them.