Nightjar Caprimulgus europaeus
Breeding distribution change
Rare summer visitor, breeds Europe, winters Africa
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Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2013
Atlas species lists
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More Nightjar maps
- Breeding distribution 1995–2000
- Summer abundance 1995–2000
- Winter distribution 1995–2000
- Winter abundance 1995–2000
- Breeding distribution 2007–2012
- Summer abundance 2007–2012
- Winter distribution 2007–2012
- Winter abundance 2007–2012
- Breeding distribution change
- Summer abundance change
- Winter distribution change
- Winter abundance change
More maps for this atlas
Map explanation
This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.
Gains and improvements
Status
Nos tetrads
Absent to present
3
<1%
Present to breeding
1
<1%
Absent to breeding
4
<1%
No change
Status
Nos tetrads
Present in both
0
0%
Breeding in both
1
<1%
Losses and declines
Status
Nos tetrads
Present to absent
7
1%
Breeding to present
3
<1%
Breeding to absent
4
<1%
Nightjars breed in northwest Africa and throughout much of Europe from the Mediterranean to Fenno-Scandia, across western and central Asia to northern China and southward to Turkey, Iran and northwest Himalayas. All populations are migratory, wintering in sub-Saharan Africa. Numbers and range of the European population have decreased since the 1950s.
In Britain Nightjars breed from southern England to the southwest lowlands of Scotland, with the main concentration in southeast England. Between the 1968-72 Breeding Atlas and the 1988-91 Breeding Atlas the British breeding range contracted by 51%, but then expanded by 18% between 1991 and Bird Atlas 2007-2011, with the actual numbers within the range more than doubling.
In Wiltshire, Nightjars have been recorded breeding in small numbers ever since records began. Birds of Wiltshire recorded them present in 16 tetrads with breeding confirmed or probable in eight of them; WTA2 recorded them in 12 tetrads with breeding in six. Since 2012 the number of sites where they were recorded breeding have varied from three in 2013 and nine in 2014 to four in 2015 - though it was suspected that the differences were as much the result of variation in observer effort as actual changes in the number of birds (Hobby).
References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
“1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976: The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986: The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
“1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
“Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
“Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
“WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.