Birds

The UK's lowland heathlands have an international importance for four species of bird - the stone curlew, dartford warbler, woodlark and nightjar. Of these only the latter two species are found across the Coversands region. Both the nightjar and woodlark benefit from the recently afforested heathland clearings, typical of areas found in the Laughton Forest.

Nightjar
Nightjars are mysterious birds of the night, and are best known for their eerie churring song that echoes across the open heathlands in the dark. Feeding on moths, beetles and other flying insects they migrate southward to escape our winter in eastern and southern Africa. Like many of the other birds found on the heathlands they have very cryptic colouring to blend into the heathland ground vegetation on which they nest. The nightjar is found in the warmer boreal areas of northern Europe, with a breeding zone extending from Spain and to southern Scandinavia. Roughly half of the European population breeds in the former Soviet states, with much smaller numbers in Western Europe. The UK population is relatively small at c.4000 pairs, mainly concentrated in southern England and East Anglia.

Until the 198 0s the UK population of the nightjar was in a serious decline, mainly due to declines in breeding habitat reflecting the loss in heathland addressed by this project. However over the last twenty years the population has risen from a low point of 2000 territorial males to an estimated present day level of c. 4000 churring males. Warmer summers have undoubtedly helped, but heathland restoration and re-creation projects, such as the Coversands project, have helped the nightjar turn a corner. 2004 will sees a national nightjar survey, so it will be interesting to see how the population of North Lincolnshire compares to other areas of the country.

The nightjar nests on dry, bare ground either in gaps in the heather cover or in scattered dead bracken. Territorial males also require suitable perches such as bare branches or fence posts in which to utter their eerie nocturnal song. While nightjars nest on heathland sites they do not exclusively feed over them, foraging over adjacent land that yields good populations of flying insects, up to 3km from their nest site.

Woodlark
Like the nightjar the woodlark is found across the warmer areas of Europe, with a breeding range between southern Scandinavia and north Africa. Its preferred habitats include well-drained heathlands and sparse grasslands. Unlike the nightjar, the woodlark only undergoes short distance movements in the winter period, so populations suffer during inclement weather. Due to declines in its favoured habitats, coupled with a series of harsh winters in the 1940s-1960s, the woodlark population underwent a large decline. Contractions in its range meant that by the early 1980s the woodlark was confined to five core areas; South Devon, the New Forest, the Hampshire-Surrey border, the East Anglian Brecks and the Suffolk Sandlings. However a combination of milder winters, the 1987'hurricane' leading to the opening up of woodlands, and heathland habitat restoration, has seen an increase in the UK population of the woodlark. From 250 territories in 1986, the population increased to an estimated 1500 males by 1997. Recently the population has consolidated across the Coversands region, with at least 55 territory holding males recorded in 2003.

Woodlarks usually nest in grass or heather tussocks, laying their eggs in a shallow depression within the vegetation. They can favour the most open sandy areas on the Coversands, but crucially the males do require scattered trees to provide song posts to advertise the limits of their territories. Early to return, the pleasant melody of the woodlark's song can be heard from late January and is one of the first signs that spring is just around the corner. The woodlark can have two and occasionally three broods over the summer, so by early autumn small groups of birds can be found in the breeding areas.

Green Woodpecker
More familiar to the casual heathland visitor than the previous species, the green woodpecker nests in trees on the heathland fringe, but utilises the heathlands as a source of its favourite food - ants. The woodpecker often feeds on the ground where it can find its invertebrate prey relatively easily on the short heathland turf. It is hard to miss when disturbed from the ground, as it will fly away uttering a loud 'ringing' call and the bright yellow rump and lime green plumage is distinctive. During the 20th century this species gradually extended its range northwards, first through northern England and more recently southern Scotland. The green woodpecker is a common bird across almost all the Coversands heathlands and is present all year round.

Tree Pipit
Another species ideally suited for life on the heathlands where its streaky brown and black plumage renders it near invisible when feeding on the ground. A summer visitor to this country, the tree pipit breeds in a variety of open habitats with scattered bushes and trees - the Coversands heaths provide ideal conditions, particularly where clear felling of conifers has occurred in the recent past. Like the woodlark, the tree pipit requires the retention of a few trees to provide song posts to territorial males. In winter the tree pipit swaps the Coversands for the warmer savannah habitats of Africa.