Having simply not bothered to go last year, this year I wasn't making the same, complette lack of effort!! So on Monday night (3rd July), I met my buddy Damon at my Dad's house at 20:30hrs, and we all piled into Damo's car and we were off to Cannock.

We arrived, after intially missing the damn car park, and treked off down to the Chase. We didn't have to wait long before we heard a distant churring. We moved closer to where the noise seemed to be eminating from, at one point a Woodcock almost flew into us!! This bird flew round us a few times, giving off it's own unque call of 'croak, croak - squeak!!' Brilliant bird, but bac to our main quarry. We'd pretty much levelled up adjacent to the churring, but it was coming from the far side of the opposite wooded area!! What to do? Retrace our steps and move along the second track, where a branch off path lead up into this wood or search for a closer pathway?...If there was one?

I decided to head a little way further, to see if I coud find a way down, narrowly avoiding having my head removed by the biggest damned bat I've ever seen in my life!! Then a bird flew out of the opposite woodland, against the skyline it was silouetted perfectly, with long, narrow wings with roundish ends and a sleek body!!....

"Nightjar!!! Flying left".... I yelled. My Dad reached me just in time to see the bird fly behind a tree... Damo wasn't as lucky as the bird had now reached the rising valley to our left and now was out of sight. And just to rub salt in Damo's wound it instantly began churring from the vacinity of a small copse of trees!!

We remianed for over an hour, in which time it never stopped churring nor did it move far from the top of the valley, but we failed to see it (well, I saw it again briefly fly out of a tree!!)

So, we decided to leave, even though Damo failed to see it and my Dad had only a brief view, we still agreed that it was a great evening birding with a great sound show accompanied by a very showy Woodcock and kamikaze bats!!!

If you've never been you must go....Just dont leave your interior light on in your car when your sat in it!! ;-)