Mission impossible bird id

[Naturenutz]

No picture im afraid ,Yesterday i saw a distant bird with behaviour i have never seen before.The bird was on the edge of mature woodland and was circling around the trees and between the branches but it was mostly gliding with hardly any wing beats that i saw until it moved to the next tree before circling again and repeating this through the trees.It was circling at about 20-25 ft high.Almost like a buzzard will circle and slowly drift while doing so. Size and colour were hard to gauge as it was mostly a sillouette against the sun,but if pushed i would say no bigger than a great spotted woodpecker,and possibly alot smaller.woodpecker did cross my mind but i am not familiar with this type of behaviour.
not much too go on here but its was the behaviour i hadnt seen before that i though may help id.Gliding alot and circling below the tree tops.

[htcdude]

Flying Squirrel???


Was it landing on the branches at all? Also where was this?

Could it maybe be a Sprawk or do you not think it was raptor like?

Nige

[Naturenutz]

thats what it looked like nige,proper gliding like flying squirell but circling . Did not strike me look like a raptor but may have been.i think it was way too small for a sprawk and may even have been thrush size or less,like i said .it was circling in quite small circles for a raptor and i think it was much too small.it was circling through the branches not circling the outer tree. and it was within the wood below the tree top line.never landed and moved tree to tree circling through the branches 3 or 4 times and then moving to the next tree in a constant circling motion.
in south gloucestershire.

[jeremiah]

A bat?

The one time I saw a bat in daylight it was behaving very much as you describe, going from tree to tree and in and out of the canopy.

[witham]

could it have previously visited a nestate agents and was looking at prospective nesting sites on the market

[htcdude]

I agree with jeremiah it sounds more like a bat than a bird.

Only raptor smaller than the usuals that kidna fit would be Merlin, but I doubt birds would've been flying in and out of branches.

Nige

[Mulligatawny owl]

The description of the flight instantly brought to mind the nightjar. Maybe an early arrival forced by hunger to hawk for insects in daylight?

[htcdude]

Originally Posted by Mulligatawny owl

The description of the flight instantly brought to mind the nightjar. Maybe an early arrival forced by hunger to hawk for insects in daylight?

I did think Nightjar, but also thought it be too early for them

[The Woodman]

Noctule

[Jonathan]

Originally Posted by Naturenutz

Size and colour were hard to gauge as it was mostly a sillouette against the sun,but if pushed i would say no bigger than a great spotted woodpecker,and possibly alot smaller.

Blue tits have a gliding display flight where the male glides towards the female, flights are usually fairly short through branches and between trees. Always looks odd to me, seeing such a small bird glide!

Cheers
Jonathan