Very rare summer visitors which formerly bred.

In the nineteenth century Nightjars were considered to be common in Hertfordshire. Foster (1914) stated that they were numerous in woods near Stevenage, in Hine (1934) he recorded that they bred in woods at Chesfield. Their decline in the County is as a result of habitat loss. As their traditional habitat of heathland dwindled they colonised conifer plantations, but as these matured they too became unsuitable.