Tape recordings of other nightjars will be used to catch the birds

Brecknock Wildlife Trust is leading a study into the nightjar, a summer migrant which breeds on heath land, in forestry clearings and in young areas of plantation.

Research into the habits of these curious nocturnal birds will be carried out at four sites in the old county of Breconshire - at Cretan and Caeo Forests, Glasfynydd Forest, Brechfa Forest, and Mynydd Ddu.

And volunteers are being urged to join the team who aim to catch the bird and attach radio tracking devices to them so their lifestyle can be studied.

We aim to catch nightjars by playing tape recordings of other nightjars which will attract them to the tape player when we will catch them in nets Charles Morgan, conservation officer

Nightjars are internationally-protected because their numbers are declining across Europe.

The breed is a biodiversity action plan species for the Brecon Beacons National Park and for the county of Powys as a whole.

Dramatic decline

"There has been a dramatic decline in heath land in Brecknock due to land improvement schemes and intensive agriculture," said Charles Morgan of Brecknock Wildlife Trust.

"The birds have to depend on forestry clear fells created during commercial felling operations for their nesting sites.

"There is a drive within commercial forestry towards natural regeneration and continuous cover forestry.

"The lack of clear fell areas likely to be available in the future could drive the small remaining population of nightjars from their current breeding sites and lead to their extinction in some areas."

The forthcoming project will study productivity and nesting success and look at the foraging habits of the species to see what ancillary habitats are used for foraging.

"We aim to catch nightjars by playing tape recordings of other nightjars which will attract them to the tape player when we will catch them in nets," said Mr Morgan.

"We will then attach radio tracking devices to them so we know where they nest and feed on."

More than 40% - almost �21,000 - of the funding for this project has come from the Countryside Council for Wales' species challenge fund.

There have also been important contributions from the Forestry Commission, Brecon Beacons National Park Authority, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.