Whinchat Dartmoor Breeding Habitat Study

New research, commissioned by the Foundation for Common Land and published by the RSPB, is providing hope for Whinchat on Dartmoor, highlighting actions that could help to maintain breeding populations in one of the species’ last remaining southern strongholds.

Smaller than a robin, Whinchats have striking plumage with a noticeable white eye stripe and orange throat and chest. The red listed bird has declined in the UK by 60% between 1995 and 2022 and are now increasingly confined to the marginal uplands of Scotland, northern England, central Wales, the Isle of Man, Exmoor and Dartmoor.

The study assessed Dartmoor’s breeding bird data in order to identify why Whinchats have disappeared from some areas but not others, in the hope of securing the future of this species across Dartmoor commons and informing conservation efforts across similar landscapes elsewhere.

The study found that a number of habitat features, including steep-sided valleys, mixed bracken, heather and bilberry, and a light tree cover, are favoured by Whinchat on their return to the UK from Africa each summer to breed. In areas where these features had been lost over time from Dartmoor’s landscape, Whinchat numbers had dwindled.

Following the discovery of the importance of these habitat features for Whinchat, recommendations are now available for Dartmoor farmers and commoners to help bring back Whinchat-friendly features to their land and boost breeding habitat for the birds.