Secret squirrel

Yesterday a group of about a dozen mainly ageing birders met for an evening of evocative crepuscular activity at a secret location in western Gwent.- I agree it sounds a bit dodgy but I can assure you it wasn't! And what an evening it was, Whinchat, stonechat, cuckoo, long eared owl, tree pipit, grasshopper warbler and drumming snipe, but for me the stars of the evening were a couple of churring and in flight nightjar from an area hitherto unknown for this species. Suddenly my Marmora's warbler syndrome seems to be receding and looking in the mirror this morning the associated itchy rash that had taken hold in the darker recesses of my body now seems a whole lot better, such are the healing properties of nature. Thanks to international wildlife tour leader, ecological entrepreneur and camera misplacer CH for an excellent evening - we must do it again! I'm now off to update the pristine nightjar distribution map in the recently published, highly expensive Birds of Gwent tome with a disproportionate smudgy red dot.