“The success rate of C. europaeus nests upon Cannock Chase in Staffordshire”

Abstract

Ground nesting birds face many challenges as nests being upon the ground are vulnerable to predation, human activity and the changing landscape. Nightjars are just one of a number of ground nesting birds that arrive to the United Kingdom to breed during the spring, whereby this dissertation has examined the success of Nightjar nests found upon one location within the UK with this being Cannock Chase.

Over a period of three months a number of Nightjar nests were located and monitored where the majority of these were predated upon by predators such as foxes, however, despite a vast amount of nests failing there were successful nests despite concerns raised over particularly high rainfall throughout spring and summer. The young chicks upon nests that were successful were ringed by members of the Forestry Commission so that the information could be passed to the British Trust for Ornithology.