If you go down to the woods tonight… - British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
One of the UK’s weirdest, and least understood, birds is facing increasing challenges as a result of wetter springs and ongoing insect declines.
Researchers from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) have been tagging rare nocturnal Nightjars, in the hope of better understanding the secret life of these peculiar visitors.
As dusk falls, an eerie sound drifts across the heath. A strange, almost mechanical, insistent purr. This is the sound of a male Nightjar, a bird that most people have never even heard of, let alone heard or seen for themselves.
Historically, these nocturnal birds were treated with suspicion, and earned such curious names in folklore as ‘fern-owl’ and ‘goatsucker.’
Nightjars are summer visitors to the UK, flying here from their wintering grounds 6,500 km away in sub-tropical Africa. They nest on heaths, moorlands, and forest clearings, where they spend the day tucked away, perfectly camouflaged, on the ground. At night, they emerge, singing their evocative ‘churring’ song, wing-clapping and searching for food, primarily moths and flying beetles.
But the Nightjar’s story has not always been a happy one here in the UK. For many decades, they had been in steep decline and in a twenty-year period from 1972 to 1992 their numbers and breeding distribution halved, as their preferred habitat was destroyed to make way for developments and agriculture. Now, after years of active conservation, Nightjars are returning and re-establishing themselves in suitable habitat across England, Wales, and Scotland, though they remain absent from Northern Ireland. However, around half of the former breeding range still remains unoccupied.
Posted On: 16/07/2024
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