Where do birds go at night? University study is providing answers
14th February 2024
Cutting-edge research by University of Gloucestershire is uncovering the night-time secrets of some of the UK’s most familiar garden birds and providing important data to help address their alarming decline in numbers.
Where woodland birds sleep at night during the winter remains one of the last great mysteries of the animal kingdom. These tiny birds have to survive up to 16 hours of darkness and cold when they are unable to feed, and choosing a good sleeping site is crucial to their surviving four long winter months.
University wildlife experts joined forces with the Gloucestershire Naturalists Society in the first study of its kind using Very High Frequency (VHF) radio tracking to discover where birds choose to sleep or settle to rest at night (roost) during the winter, after foraging during the day.
The research team, including six students from the University’s MSc Applied Ecology programme, employed tracking methods in three locations in Gloucestershire to record the winter night-time roosting habits of four popular woodland species – the European robin, Eurasian blackbird, great tit and dunnock.
The results of the study – funded by the British Ecological Society – will help to inform and support management practices in woodland areas to protect species, following a national assessment that showed a 37% decline in woodland birds since 1970. You can read more about this story on the University website.