Firstly for anyone who doesn’t know – why the nickname Gryllo?
Well back in 1981 we were commencing a research project on the European Nightjar involving ringing and radio tracking the birds.
Nightjar at sea off Oman - photo Mike Watson
I was given the job of recording some tape loops of the ‘churring’ song to attract the birds to the nets.
The recordings I used were anounced by their scientific names and after Caprimulgus europeaus there was a short recording of the Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa which sounds quite like a Nightjar.
Mole Cricket - Khazakstan
I managed to overrun one recording so that every minute as the tape looped round the word ‘gryllo’ was heard, my fellow ringers were highly amused and the name stuck!
Good to see you have a blog Ian, look forward to reading your updates now you are a man of leisure! Best wishes and congrats James