wayland
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Banshee spotted!As overheard at the local supermarket checkout. Have any of you guys seen or heard?
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quarryman
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They usually turn out to be the call of a Vixen.
But the tradition goes back centuries.
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admin
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Sure is a scarey sound ! Don't think I would leave my nice mud hut on a dark night to see what it really came from . I'd settle for Banshee . Still would sometimes ! 
Something around here makes a strange "whirring " sort of noise from dusk until very late if there is any moonlight . It is difficult to tell where it is coming from and , indeed , it seems to move from place to place at an impossible speed . Always somewhere above you , could be up in the hills or perhaps sky . 
I know it is a bird because I have witnessed them , but on only one occasion . It is not big ( ?? blackbird size ? ) , it hovvers high up then drops , like a lark does . It makes the noise as it dives . Doesn't sound vocal so perhaps it is caused by wind over wing feathers ? From reading up I am pretty sure it is Nightjar but as far as locals are concerned it is "the Nanny Goat " ( said in a fairly hushed tone ) and they will not be told otherwise !
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wayland
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I think that you have Nightjars about your place. You discribe them to a "T" mate.
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blowin
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I have certainly been known to have a few jars at night but that was a very long time ago
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wayland
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I first came across them while lamping in a local estate. It sounded anything but a call of a bird. No pauses for breath. I first thought it was some electronic gizmo used by the keeper.
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blowin
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I'm sure that's it then  .
One of the locals has now conceded that it is a bird and is adamat that it is a curlew ! So I wonder what the things with the long beak and plaintive call are ....
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wayland
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Plaintive call is the word for the Curlew. Reminds me of dawn in the Severn estuary. A protected bird now of course but we used to take them for the pot.
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keithrawlins
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the banshee is the curse of the O'neil clan and goes back to the 12 century, To hear the call is to mean someone in the clan will be dead by dawn. but to see one means you will be dead by dawn .only members of the clan can see or hear them so the rest of us are safe
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blowin
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Funny how these things go round in circles then resolve themselves in time . Not many total " untruths" but equally few full explanations .
On the subject of the noise made by what the locals call a "Nanny Goat " ( but obviously isn't a 4 legged creature on account of the way it moves around the sky ) --- I had come to believe that it was a Nightjar bird . That is until I saw a film of one on a TV prog . That was a completely different size , shape and flight pattern to the birds I had once seen apparently making this strange loud whirring noise .
Subsequently heard a prog on the radio with a feature on unusual bird courtship calls . It was undoubtedly Snipe . They rise and then create a strumming sound with their wing feathers when they go into a steep fast dive .
And their local name in parts of the uk is " Bog Goat " .
So , there you go
As for the Banshee -- I think that has something to do with sound you hear coming out of the next room when you are waiting at the dentist . Couldn't be much more scary anyway
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wayland
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A pox on all dentists  .They lie. They say this wont hurt but it is going to hurt like hell.  . I think the worst sound is the dentists drill. Especially when you hear it slow down as it starts to do its job. Yuck!
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mountain man
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The sky goat as its called in these parts is the jack snipe,and if ever you have heard fox,s mateing,then you would think it was the banshee,its really haunting
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wayland
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Indeed. and the snipe can get yer wondering what the feck it is.
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blowin
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"For the Snark was a Boojum , you see ! "
The closing words of a childhood tale called The Hunting of the Snark , if I remember correctly . Wish I still had a copy of the book .
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