BTO - Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside: Nightjar

NIGHTJAR
Caprimulgus europaeus

Nightjar © Derek Belsey

• Population
changes

• Productivity
trends

• Additional
information

Conservation listings

Europe: SPEC category 2, (declining)
UK: red (>50% distribution decline)

Long-term trend

UK: uncertain

UK population size

3,400 males in 1992 (Morris et al. 1994: BiE04, APEP06); 4,600 males in 2004 (Conway et al. in press)

Status summary

Having suffered a decline in range of more than 50% between breeding atlases, the 1992 national survey revealed a welcome increase of 50% in population size since 1981, probably due to increased availability of young forest habitat as plantations were felled and replanted (Morris et al. 1994). A new survey in 2004 revealed that further increase had taken place (Conway et al. in press). The apparent increase in nest failure rates, especially at the chick stage in the period up to 1995, is probably an artefact of very small sample sizes in the early years.

Population changes

Annual population changes are not monitored for this species

Productivity trends

Laying date graph

Insufficient data on CES
available for this species

Additional information


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This report should be cited as: Baillie, S.R., Marchant, J.H., Crick, H.Q.P., Noble, D.G., Balmer, D.E., Coombes, R.H., Downie, I.S., Freeman, S.N., Joys, A.C., Leech, D.I., Raven, M.J., Robinson, R.A. and Thewlis, R.M. (2006) Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status 2005. BTO Research Report No. 435. BTO, Thetford. (http://www.bto.org/birdtrends) Pages maintained by Susan Waghorn and Iain Downie: Last updated 28 April, 2006