Nightjar Tracking Appeal

This appeal helped fund vital research into the migration routes and wintering areas of European Nightjar, as well as their foraging habitat at breeding sites.

Please note that this appeal is now closed to donations. If you’d like to support our work, you can donate to a current appeal >

Summary

This appeal funded two parallel tracking studies which revealed new information about Nightjar migration and about Nightjar foraging habitat during the breeding season in the UK.
The data and evidence from this research can be used by land managers and conservationists to optimally manage habitat for Nightjars and support the re-expansion of their UK range.
Research into the migratory cycle of Nightjars is ongoing and aims to identify the threats this species faces outside of the UK.

Why we launched the Nightjar Tracking Appeal

Nightjars have a highly localised UK breeding distribution across heathland and young woodland sites. Sadly, the UK breeding population size and range underwent a sharp decline during the 1970s and although the numbers have since recovered, the distribution of this species is still 50% lower than before the decline.

Because Nightjars are habitat specialists – reliant mainly on lowland heath or young conifer woodlands – understanding how to manage habitat to benefit Nightjars should be a key requirement for land managers.

However, when we launched this appeal in 2011, very little was known about the habitats Nightjar use for foraging during the breeding season. This meant that land management guidance was limited and focused on the creation of nesting habitat, without considering foraging requirements. We also had very little knowledge of Nightjar migration and wintering sites, and the threats this species might face at different points of its annual migratory cycle.

With the Nightjar Tracking Project, we wanted to understand the breeding habitat requirements of Nightjar with respect to the habitats used for foraging and their proximity to nest sites – this is critical for effective conservation management across forests and heathland reserves.

We also wanted to gather more information about Nightjar migration routes and wintering areas, to further our understanding of potential environmental threats that may influence Nightjar migration timing and the UK breeding population size.

Findings of the Nightjar Tracking Project

We used GPS tracking devices to investigate the Nightjar's foraging habitat use at breeding sites in and around Thetford Forest. Our work revealed that most pairs forage 1–5 km from their heathland or forest nest sites, and favour feeding in grassland and other farmland habitats that support abundant moths.

Through DNA analysis of Nightjar faecal pellets, we discovered that Nightjars primarily feed on moths and preferentially select medium to large individuals, with Noctuid moths comprising the majority of prey items. This raises concerns for the future prospects of Nightjar as large moths – the major component of their diet in the breeding season – are in decline.

We also used GPS tracking devices, alongside geolocators, to investigate migration routes and wintering areas of Nightjars breeding in the UK. This has revealed that the majority of British-breeding Nightjars spend our winter months in the Congo basin on the western side of the African continent and south of the equator – considerably outside the recognised African wintering range for this species.

In addition, the data has revealed that the presumed ‘wintering’ area between Sierra Leone and Nigeria, south of the Sahara, is not used for wintering at all but is instead an important stopover location for Nightjars on spring migration (as it is for other insectivorous Afro-Palearctic migrants like Hobbies, Swifts and Cuckoos).

Scientific publications

These are the main papers that have resulted from our work in Thetford Forest, undertaken in collaboration with Nightjar researcher groups from Europe as well as within the UK.

Nightjar habitat use throughout the annual cycle

Lathouwers, M., Dendoncker, N., Artois, T., Beenaerts, N., Conway, G., Henderson, I., Shewring, M., Cross, T., Ulenaers, E. and Evens, R., 2023. Multi-scale habitat selection throughout the annual cycle of a long-distance avian migrant. Ecological Indicators 156: 111099

Nightjar migration speed varies with ecological conditions

Lathouwers, M., Artois, T., Dendoncker, N., Beenaerts, N., Conway, G., Henderson, I., Kowalczyk, C., Davaasuren, B., Bayargur, S., Shewring. M., Cross, T., Ulenaers, E., Liechti, F. & Evens, R. 2022. Rush or relax: migration tactics of a nocturnal insectivore in response to ecological barriers. Scientific Reports 12(4): 964

Nightjar foraging location and prey selection

Evens, R., Conway, G., Franklin, K., Henderson, I., Stockdale, J., Beenaerts, N., Smeets, K., Neyens, T., Ulenaers, E. & Artois, T. 2020. DNA diet profiles with high‐resolution animal tracking data reveal levels of prey selection relative to habitat choice in a crepuscular insectivorous bird. Ecology and Evolution 10(23): 13044–13056

What were the drivers of the Breckland Nightjar decline?

Conway, G., Henderson, I. & Hunter, D. 2019. The importance of Breckland heaths and moth communities for breeding Nightjar. The Journal of Breckland Studies 3: 66–79

Individial migration strategies, ecological barriers and migratory connectivity

Norevik, G., Åkesson, S., Artois, T., Beenaerts, N., Conway, G., Cresswell, B., Evens, R., Henderson, I., Jiguet, F. & Hedenström, A. 2019. Wind‐associated detours promote seasonal migratory connectivity in a flapping flying long‐distance avian migrant. Journal of Animal Ecology 89(2): 635–646

Identifying key migration routes and wintering areas for UK-breeding Nightjar

Evens, R., Conway, G. J., Henderson, I. G., Creswell, B., Jiguet, F., Moussy, C., Sénécal, D., Witters, N., Beenaerts, N. & Artois, T. 2017. Migratory pathways, stopover zones and wintering destinations of Western European Nightjars Caprimulgus europaeus. Ibis 159(3): 680–686