So long as the habitat is managed, it seems that heathland species such as Nightjar will thrive and prosper

Bird of mystery - Nightjar in flight

                                   

THE past couple of decades seem to have been kind to bird species that inhabit Britain's heathland and young forest, both those in the uplands and in the lowlands.

A paper by in the Autumn 2026 edition of BTO  News reports that of the  territories monitored, there were substantial increases between 2004 and 2025 for Nightjar, Dartford Warbler and Woodlark.

The 2025 breakdown for the areas covered is: 

* Nightjar territories: 5,184 (up 20 per cent on 2004)

* Dartford Warbler: 3,260 territories (up 27 per cent)

* Woodlark: 2,364 territories (up 35 per cent)

These are species that benefit from invertebrate-rich habitat consisting of thinly vegetated ground with an abundance of bare soil or short turf, scattered hawthorn and other scrub. 

But, as the report  points out these are often "early-successional"  and "inherently short-lived" habitats that require grazing, cutting or forestry operations to prevent scrub and/or heather taking over.

So long as this human activity  prevails, there are reasons to be cheerful, all the more so given that climate change - specifically drier  summers - would seem to work to these species' advantage, possibly helping them to extend their breeding range.

On the downside, fires such as those this summer at Dunwich in Suffolk, plus long periods of heavy rain during the breeding season, are the opposite ofbeneficial.

The survey also looked at nine other species, including Stonechat and Hobby, that are regularly to be found  on heathland, but no breeding data has yet been published for these.                                       

Dartford Warblers as depicted in Gould's The Birds of Great Britain (1873)