Country diary: Waiting for a nightjar is elusive and maddening – then thrilling

A male nightjar in flight. ‘As the bird moves so the glittering call shifts through the plantation shadows.’ Photograph: David Tipling/Alamy

The setting sun spread a last Iberian glow over the hills opposite before they were drained of colour and sound, and by 9pm, the world was in monochrome.

In line with national increases in their numbers and range, nightjars have prospered here recently. It seems especially so with the clearance of conifers, which has left a mix of old Scots pine and open space perfectly suited to this crepuscular ground-nesting migrant.