Current Status¹

Regional distribution in the South West¹

Priority Areas and natural areas in the South West¹

• Bodmin Moor (NA)
• West Penwith (NA)
• Devon Redlands (NA)
• Dorset Heaths (NA)
• Isles of Portland and Purbeck (NA)
• Dean Plateau and Wye Valley (NA)

Basic Management requirements¹

Relevant Ecology

The nightjar is a summer migrant from sub-Saharan Africa, arriving in early May and departing by October. Nests are usually located in patches of bare or sparsely vegetated ground, mainly on free-draining sandy soils (and in some situations on heavier gley soils (Rod Leslie, pers. comm.)) within areas of mature dry heathland, young forestry plantations, or in woodland clearings of over 1.5 ha.

Nightjars feed on flying insects (such as moths, beetles and flies) mainly at dawn and dusk and in some circumstances well into the night, across a wide range of habitats/land use types; hunting seasonally available suitable prey. Preferred feeding habitats are heathland, deciduous or mixed woodland, orchards, riparian habitats, freshwater wetlands and gardens, though plantations are used where there is structural diversity within the woodland. The birds will travel an average 3 km from the nest site to locate suitable feeding areas. Nightjars often rear two broods a season. Normally two eggs are laid from mid May to mid July, chicks hatch after about 19 days and fly at about 17 days old. They are then reliant on the parents for about four weeks.

Basic management requirements of the nightjar

Site Size

At least 10 ha are normally required to attract nightjars.

Heath Management

Cyclical heather management to maintain the long term vigour of the heath, on rotation between 20 and 40 years and/or controlled burning.

Scrub Control

Periodically remove invading tree scrub to prevent succession; the density of retained trees should be kept to less than 10/ha, above this value of the heath for other species can become compromised. Prevent bracken invasion of heath by herbicide treatment, as the need arises (NB mowing or rolling to control bracken is unsuitable as it has to be undertaken during the nesting season of nightjars and other ground nesting birds).

Grazing

Extensive grazing enhances the vegetation structure, restricts invasion and incidentally increases the population of dung invertebrates, some of which are significant in the nightjar diet.

Bare Ground

All the above help to create bare patches of 3-5m within the heather dominated vegetation and at the base of small trees (1-3m). This provides nightjars with suitable nesting habitat areas where the heather cover is otherwise too dense for sufficient natural sites to be available.

Conifer Plantations

Clearings (over 10 ha) restocked within 10-15 years are preferred by nightjars. Continuity of suitable nest site may be extended for two to three years by inter row ploughing/rotovating.

Open space

Diversification of the age structure within the more even aged plantations will ensure a continuity of suitable open space throughout the production cycle, ideally the proportion of newly created open space should then be maintained throughout the cycle.

Unplanted Bays

The inclusion of unplanted bays (20-50m deep) on this sides of wide rides can also provide nest sites in undisturbed areas. These rides also provide narrow heathland corridors through large woodland areas which may provide sheltered feeding sites.

Feeding

Maintaining and enhancing of areas of heathland, agriculturally unimproved pasture, wood pasture, wet meadows, old hedgerows and native deciduous woods close to nest sites (less than 3 km away) is required to ensure sufficient suitable feeding habitat.

Current Factors affecting the species¹

• The area of open heathland influences the amount of potential nesting habitat
• Suitability of heathland management affects the availability and sustainability of nesting habitat
• Area of suitability of plantation forestry; the proportion of temporary (re-stocks) and of permanent open space influences the amount and suitability of nesting habitat
• Availability of feeding habitats within range of nesting sites
• Disturbance at nest sites
• Nest Predation
• Urbanisation increases predation by cats, nest disturbance due to recreational pressure, light and noise pollution, and in summer, fire risk.
  
  

UK Biodiversity Objectives and proposed targets¹

These are RSPB (1996) national objectives which will inform the UK Biodiversity Action Plan for nightjar currently in preparation.

Maintain a population of at least 3,400 churring males

Halt the decline in range.

Increase the nightjar numbers by 18% (to 4000 churring males) and range by 5% (to 280 10 km squares) by the year 2002.

Restore nightjars to parts of their former range in the long term (over the next 20 years)

As the South West has a significant proportion of the UK population, considerable potential for increasing heathland, and as planned increases in forest re-stock areas are being made in Forest Design Plans, there are significant opportunities to contribute to the UK targets in this region

OBJECTIVE 1

Ensure the continuity of the existing South West nightjar population, though approximate habitat management and ongoing implementation of policy mechanisms.

TARGET: Ongoing

OBJECTIVE 3

Increase the numbers of breeding nightjars in the South West to 1000

TARGET 2010

Current Action ¹

National Management prescriptions, influenced by research undertaken into nightjars in Thetford Forest Enterprise forest design plans in Districts where breeding nightjars occur e.g. revising felling patterns to develop a more constant pattern of re-stock areas from 2000 onwards.

Management prescriptions beneficial for nightjars on heathland and in conifer woodland have been developed on the RSPB reserves and by the Dorset Heathland Project.

Heathland restoration management undertaken by several County Heathland Projects is providing an increase in the area of suitable nesting habitat throughout southern England. In addition nature reserve management by EN, the RSPB, WTs, NT and LAs is providing further habitat.

A species action plan has been drawn up by the RSPB, in consultation with the statutory conservation organisations, for the nightjar, which focuses and coordinates the RSPB activities for this species throughout the UK. It is anticipated that EN will shortly produce their own version of this plan.

The nightjar is included in the middle list of species in the Biodiversity Steering Group Report. A national species action plan will be produced by Government for this species by 1998.

Management grants are available for a range of habitats utilised by the nightjar. Countryside Stewardship, WES and RES provide payments for habitat management, through WES is currently available only in selected areas. Meanwhile FA's Woodland Grant Scheme *WGS), nationally available, provides for up to 20% open space within a scheme woodland.

Regional: The region has undergone a significant increase in the extent of heathland restoration management in recent years. In Dorset, work done by the RSPB Dorset Heathland Project, for example, on non-reserve sites, had increased the area of open heath in the county by 560 ha. In addition to restoration work an extensive suite of heathland nature reserves is owned and/or managed by the RSPB, NT, EN, HCT, Dorset WT and local authorities. In Devon the RSPB and Devon WT are also managed heathland nature reserves.

Countryside Stewardship is available across the South West for heathland restoration and re-establishment, which would increase the area of suitable nightjar nesting habitat, as well as for restoring water meadows, park woodlands, hedgerows and calcareous grassland, which provide potential feeding habitat. WES is currently only available for Dorset heathland SSSIs, while WGS is available across the region.

FE has, working together with the RSPB and EN, undertaken the first phase of a project in Dorset which has so far delivered 140 ha of permanent heath from conifer plantation. This is likely to provide additional habitat for nightjars

Design Plans for all FE's forests throughout the region are delivering a more diverse age structure and more open space within the forest, which will ensure a constant area of open ground and young re-stock suitable for nesting and feeding nightjars

Proposed Action ¹

Ensure that all regularly occupied sites are protected by statutory notification/designation or CWS (by 1999)
LEAD: EN
PARTNERS: RSPB
TARGET: 1999

Manage existing open heathland sites incorporating nightjar prescriptions (ongoing)
LEAD: EN
PARTNERS: FE, FA, LAs, WTs, MoD, RSPB

Ensure that Forest Design Plans provide continuity of sufficient open space within conifer plantations (ongoing)

LEAD: FE, FA
PARTNERS: EN

Resist development (housing, road, industrial) on or adjacent to nightjar nesting habitat. Press for buffer zones between developments and habitats (ongoing)

LEAD: LAs
PARTNER: RSPB, EN, WTs, DoE

Promote sustainable funding schemes to ensure the existence and enhancement of suitable feeding areas within 5 km of nesting sites (especially CS, WES, WGS) (ongoing)

LEAD: MAFF, EN, FA
PARTNERS: RSPB, WTs

Protect feeding habitat from conservation/destruction, particularly wetland drainage, within 5 km of nesting sites (ongoing)

LEAD: LAs
PARTNERS: RSPB

Ensure that nightjar prescriptions are incorporated into Woodland Grant Scheme plans (ongoing)

LEAD: FA
PARTNERS: RSPB, EN

Advisory

Advise relevant parties of the presence, legal status, and management requirements of this species (onoing)

Investigate potential range increase from Heathland re-creation plans and FDPs (by 1998)

LEAD: EN, RSPB
PARTNERS: EN

Develop and implement a research programme to determine key factors for conservation of nightjars (by 2005)

LEAD: EN, RSPB
PARTNERS: FE, MoD, BTO, ITE

Undertake co-ordinated monitoring of population and range changes in response to actions

LEAD: RSPB, LBCs
PARTNERS: FE, MoD, WTs, BTO