LUDLOW-based wildlife ranger Mike Thornley has been watching and listening intently for another sign of a unique visitor to his woodlands.

He was astonished when he spotted evidence of the first breeding nightjars on his Forestry Commission patch for a generation.

The last pair of nightjars was spotted in Herefordshire on the High Vinnals in 1981. The last lone bird was seen in 1985.

Mr Thornley said he was hoping for a summer treat watching the birds at dusk with the female tracking the male's extraordinary aerial courtship displays. But since the first sighting the birds have fallen silent.

He said: "Male nightjars show off to their mates with a roller-coast flight of soaring and diving.

"Their wings make a wonderful clapping sound as they call out to the female with a weird 'churring' sound. It's one of the finest displays in the bird world."

The birds' silence now indicated that there was only one pair and so there was no need for the male to keep issuing his challenge.

The bird's reappearance has been put down to new forest management techniques. Commission foresters are breaking up the age structures of their woodlands to make them blend into the landscape. It also creates new wildlife habitats.

Felling small areas of trees means that there are always open areas planted with young saplings in the woods and ground-nesting birds like nightjars must have these clearing to bring up their young.

The species has been in decline across the country during the past hundred years.

They reached an all-time low in 1981 when only 2,100 displaying males were recorded in the UK. By 1992, numbers had risen to 3,400.

Now that new potential nesting sites are being provided, other threatened ground-nesting species like the skylarks are also benefiting and a close watch is being kept on them.