Northern wheatears are long-distance migrants that breed on upland heaths and arrive on UK coasts in spring after crossing the Sahara, facing welfare challenges throughout their 15,000-km round trip.
Wheatears arriving in early spring face cold snap mortality if insect prey is unavailable on their breeding grounds. The extreme migration distances expose individual birds to predation, weather and starvation risks on multiple continents. Loss of short-turf nesting habitat through bracken encroachment reduces breeding success for returning birds that have survived the migration. Conservation of upland heaths directly improves welfare for individual birds completing their extraordinary journeys.