Nightingale and wheatear: scrub is encroaching in the dunes

Shrubby vegetation is aggressively encroaching in the calcareous dunes. Here, wheatears are decreasing more than in the less calcareous dunes that have fewer shrubs, whereas nightingales are increasing more.

Trends

In the calcareous dunes (south of Bergen), the natural succession leads to shrubby vegetation, climaxing in woodland. This succession, which used to be hampered by the harvesting of wood and by grazing, is now accelerating. In the less calcareous dunes there is less scrub encroachment and the vegetation is less dense.

In almost all dune areas the wheatear is declining. The decline is sharpest in the calcareous areas in Noord-Holland, Zuid-Holland and Zeeland. The most important reason is the encroachment of shrubs and grasses. The wheatear is on the Red List of birds.

By contrast, the nightingale is profiting from the encroachment of scrub and rank vegetation. Its numbers are more or less stable in the less calcareous dunes (where there are fewer shrubs), but are increasing in the shrubby calcareous dunes.