More than just heather

Our ground-nesting birds usually favour heaths and recently harvested forestry habitats for nesting. But did you know they will use adjacent areas where conditions are suitable? Eversley Common, for example, neighbouring Castle Bottom National Nature Reserve, functioned as an active quarry for many years, but is now developing into a wonderful haven for wildlife. It doesn’t look like a typical heath, but its open habitat is home to woodlark, Dartford warbler and nightjar! Woodlark and nightjar favour the open, stony areas, and the trackside heather and gorse attract Dartford warblers.

On a recent visit with Warden Zoe, we stopped to listen to this woodlark singing over its territory and to watch our first swallows of the season! [Listen with volume]…

Now quarrying has finished, restoration is underway and habitats are being returned to a woodland and heather mosaic, achieved with heather reseeding. Over the coming years the quarry, an important part of the Thames Basin Heaths Special Protection Area, will continue its gradual recovery, becoming better and better.

Warden Nicky
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