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Why are Dartford Warblers so rare in the UK? (1 Viewer)

birdman

birdman

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I heard a quiz question recently - What is the only Resident Breeding Warbler in Britain? And I was stumped.

The answer given was Dartford Warbler.

(Well, that may or may not be so, depending on what qualifies as a resident breeder, and particularly with regard to the thread on Cetti's Warbler which is developing at the moment.)

But anyway...

I try to manage a annual visit to the tropical south of England in an (as yet unsuccessful) attempt to add Dartford Warbler to my life list.

This year I got to wondering just why Dartford Warbler is so localised.

The two "obvious" answers seem to be habitat and climate.

But if I try to apply some thought to this, I realise I don't know the answer.

As far as I know, the Dartford's seem to like the low level heathland of the New Forest type. Is it that the "low level" aspect is crucial, and if so, is that due to climatic conditions.

And either way, is the frozen north just too much colder than the tropical south to allow popluation to establish in northern heathland?

Other species are affected by severe winters - but I guess if they start from a population of many millions, it is easier to build up the numbers again.

Were there ever large numbers of Dartford Warbler in the UK?

Any help would be appreciated.

:t:
 
Hi Birdman,

Yep, habitat and climate are the two major factors. The former is, by and large getting worse (due to heathland destruction by man), the second, better for Dartfords (due to the warming climate). So whether the population now is the highest it has ever been or not, is hard to say. Around 300 years ago, there was a vastly greater area of lowland heath they could occupy, but no published population figures, of course. Conversely, now, with mild winters, they are able to colonise higher ground than they ever could before, bringing in e.g. substantial areas of Dartmoor within their climatic tolerance (there has been a large population establishing there in the last few years).

The worst bottleneck for them was (as far as I know) the very severe 1962/63 winter, which cut the population to a handful of pairs; since then they have increased to over a thousand pairs with the expansion into places formerly too cold, but I don't know if that number is higher than they were before lowland heath destruction began.

They are very sensitive to cold, and particularly, heavy snow. The peak population of recent times was in 2000, with 1,925 territories, but dropping to 1,203 territories in 2001, with a particularly large drop in the Dartmoor population, due to the short period of heavy snow in early March 2001 (but probably also some territories not counted due to F&M restrictions). With the very mild 2001/02 and 02/03 winters, the number should bounce back quickly (totals not published yet).

(Figures in the last paragraph from the British Birds annual Rare Breeding Birds Report)

Michael
 
Hi Birdman,

I don't believe 'low level' is critical as a pair bred in recent years in South Wales at a reasonable height - probably in excess of 1000ft!

Andy
 
Thanks Michael, satrow,

Crikey, it is only 3 years since Foot & Mouth???

My S. England geography is not great, but I'm not sure there's a whole lot of heathland between the Severn and Thames estuaries?

Is this correct? And if so, does it serve as some kind of barrier which makes it difficult for them to spread north? (Notwithstanding satrow's S. Wales pair.)

Is it going to have to get much milder before we see them Oop North?
 
Hi Birdman - this is what my Birdguides has to say about Dartford Warblers:

A scarce breeding bird of dry lowland heath, largely confined to Dorset, Hampshire and Surrey, with small populations elsewhere on the south coast. The best sites include Arne in Dorset, Beaulieu Road Station in Hampshire, Frensham Common in Surrey and Woodbury Common in Devon.

I'm really just a garden bird person, but I'd like to widen my horizons, and Frensham isn't very far away from here - perhaps I'll have an outing soon.
 
Hi again,

I too am unsure of the amount of relict heathland through middle England; here in Wales there is a scattering of 'suitable' habitat not only in the uplands but also around the coastal belt - 'stepping stones' which, given mild winters for another decade or so, may help the spread of Dartfords to NW England.

We have also in recent years, had Dartfords breeding along the South Wales coastal belt, whether the numbers will build up enough to be self-sustaining is another matter!

Cheers,

Andy.
 
Hi Birdman,

I'd agree, shortage of suitable heathland habitat is probably a major barrier to their spread north. Places like South Stack (Anglesey) and St Abb's Head (SE Scotland) have patches of good habitat, but it is getting there that's the problem for them (particularly St Abb's). The midlands heathlands (e.g. Cannock Chase, Staffs) are probably too cold for them in winter, too.

Michael
 
I'm really just a garden bird person, but I'd like to widen my horizons, and Frensham isn't very far away from here - perhaps I'll have an outing soon.
Click to expand...

Hi Elizabeth,If you're not too far from Thursley Common,that's the place I'd recommend for seeing Dartford Warblers.
In comparison to Dunwich Heath in Suffolk,those at Thursley seemed so much more confiding,for a species often described as 'secretive'.
 
St Abbs Head has been the location for the first Scottish record of Dartford Warbler and the first record of the closely related Marmora's Warbler.

I once saw a management plan for a coastal area of East Lothian which talked about managing the gorse to encourage Dartford Warblers to breed there.

Oh how we laughed!
 
Hi,

I'd agree with the comment about Thursley Common - I was there in July and saw quite a few.

I wrote about them in a thread called 'Thursley Common' a few weeks back (not sure how to add a link into this thread...)


Rgds... Ruby
 
Yes, I have never been to Thursley and not seen Dartfords (usually several - helps if you know the call), but i have only seen one in Suffolk, and a handful in the New Forest. Someone told me that they were "the commonest breeding bird of the Surrey Heathland".....not sure about that, but they are definately findable there.
 
Stringer said:
Someone told me that they were "the commonest breeding bird of the Surrey Heathland".....not sure about that, but they are definately findable there.
Click to expand...

I can nip out of my office in Bracknell (Berks) and see them in my lunchbreak.
 
Its strange as I really don't think of these birds as rare anymore there are loads of them on every available bit of Heathland in my area. Dead easy to see on a calm spring morning with a little patience, and you can't fail to here them. Now is not a bad time to look as there are a few juveniles around, but they do go quite through the winter and disperse, there has been birds wintering a Pagham for instance in the past. The spring is best when the males sit in view singing from the top of a small Pine/Birch/Gorse or from the heather. (Though not long enough to Digiscope as yet ;-) There are Dozens of breeding pairs on my local patch.

I am Ten minutes from Frensham Common, but that is one of dozens of sites in the area where these birds can be found.

Birdman or anyone else, I would be happy to arrange a BF Dartford finding mission, but best to wait till the spring, when we could also get Woodlark, Hobby etc and perhaps Nightjar if we made it a May afternoon/Evening.

Rich
 
Richard Ford said:
Birdman or anyone else, I would be happy to arrange a BF Dartford finding mission, but best to wait till the spring, when we could also get Woodlark, Hobby etc and perhaps Nightjar if we made it a May afternoon/Evening.

Rich
Click to expand...

Please will you put us down on your list for the mission - thanks.
 
Finding Dartfords

I couldn't agree more with Michael's comments about finding them. Still sunny weather is vital as they tend to come out and sit on the top of gorse bushes more often.

Incidentally if anyone is interested, another good place to look for them is the higher parts of the Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. They have areasonable breeding population there.

Andy
 
Richard Ford said:
Birdman or anyone else, I would be happy to arrange a BF Dartford finding mission, but best to wait till the spring, when we could also get Woodlark, Hobby etc and perhaps Nightjar if we made it a May afternoon/Evening.
Click to expand...
I don't know what I'm doing in May, and I've no idea where Frensham Common is...

... but if you are offering me Nightjar, Woodlark, Hobby AND Dartford, then I'll damn sure find time in my "busy schedule"!!!
 
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