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Given the global decline of many invertebrate food resources, it is fundamental to understand the dietary requirements of insectivores. We give new insights into the functional relationship between the spatial habitat use, food availability, and diet of a crepuscular aerial insectivore, the European Nightjar (Caprimulgus europaeus) by relating spatial use data with high‐throughput sequencing (HTS) combined with DNA metabarcoding. Our study supports the predictions that nightjars collect a substantial part of their daily nourishment from foraging locations, sometimes at considerable distance from nesting sites. Lepidopterans comprise 65% of nightjars' food source. Nightjars tend to select larger species of Lepidoptera (>19 mm) which suggests that nightjars optimize the efficiency of foraging trips by selecting the most energetically favorable—larger—prey items. We anticipate that our findings may shed additional light on the interactions between invertebrate communities and higher trophic levels, which is required to understand the repercussions of changing food resources on individual‐ and population‐level processes., We give new insights into the functional relationship between the spatial habitat use, food availability, and diet of a crepuscular aerial insectivore. Nightjars collect a substantial part of their daily nourishment from foraging locations which were presumed to be unsuitable for the species. These foraging habitats are found at considerable distances from breeding habitats and comprise grasslands and meadows.

Simple Summary Anoscopus leafhoppers are a group of plant-feeding bugs that can be found in a range of grassland habitats. There are seven recognized species in the UK, some of which are difficult to tell apart. One species, Anoscopus duffieldi, has only been found at a single site, an RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) reserve at Dungeness in Kent. As Anoscopus leafhoppers can be quite variable in colour and pattern, and in the structure of their genitalia, our aim was to establish, using DNA, whether this ‘species’ is unique or whether it is simply a variant of one of the other species. If it is unique, found nowhere else, it should be afforded special protection. Samples of all UK species, as well as another from the Czech Republic, were collected from the field, and two genes were examined. The DNA sequences showed that three species, A. duffieldi, Anoscopus albifrons and Anoscopus limicola were so closely related that they should probably be considered a single species. However, A. duffieldi are distinctive in that they live only in one area of vegetated shingle. We suggest that, until other evidence is forthcoming, A. duffieldi could be considered a locally adapted subspecies of scientific interest. Abstract The subfamily Aphrodinae (Hemiptera: Cicadellidae) contains ~33 species in Europe within four genera. Species in two genera in particular, Aphrodes and Anoscopus, have proved to be difficult to distinguish morphologically. Our aim was to determine the status of the putative species Anoscopus duffieldi, found only on the RSPB Nature Reserve at Dungeness, Kent, a possible rare UK endemic. DNA from samples of all seven UK Anoscopus species (plus Anoscopus alpinus from the Czech Republic) were sequenced using parts of the mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I and 16S rRNA genes. Bayesian inference phylogenies were created. Specimens of each species clustered into monophyletic groups, except for Anoscopus albifrons, A. duffieldi and Anoscopus limicola. Two A. albifrons specimens grouped with A. duffieldi repeatedly with strong support, and the remaining A. albifrons clustered within A. limicola. Genetic distances suggest that A. albifrons and A. limicola are a single interbreeding population (0% divergence), while A. albifrons and A. duffieldi diverged by only 0.28%. Shared haplotypes between A. albifrons, A. limicola and A. duffieldi strongly suggest interbreeding, although misidentification may also explain these topologies. However, all A. duffieldi clustered together in the trees. A conservative approach might be to treat A. duffieldi, until other evidence is forthcoming, as a possible endemic subspecies.

SUMMARYStudies of blood parasite infection in nestling birds rarely find a high prevalence of infection. This is likely due to a combination of short nestling periods (limiting the age at which nestlings can be sampled) and long parasite prepatent periods before gametocytes can be detected in peripheral blood. Here we examine rates of blood parasite infection in nestlings from three Columbid species in the UK. We use this system to address two key hypotheses in the epidemiology of avian haemoparasites: first, that nestlings in open nests have a higher prevalence of infection; and second, that nestlings sampled at 14 days old have a higher apparent infection rate than those sampled at 7 days old. Open-nesting individuals had a 54% infection rate compared with 25% for box-nesters, probably due to an increased exposure of open-nesting species to dipteran vectors. Nestlings sampled at 14 days had a 68% infection rate compared with 32% in nestlings sampled at 7 days, suggesting that rates of infection in the nest are high. Further work should examine nestlings post-fledging to identify rates of successful parasite infection (as opposed to abortive development within a dead-end host) as well as impacts on host post-fledging survival and behaviour.

Trichomonosis, caused by the protozoan Trichomonas gallinae, is an emerging infectious disease in finches, and is more commonly found in columbids and raptors. Infections can be sub-clinical or cause morbidity and mortality, but the parasite is currently only detectable by incubation of an oral swab. Here, we test whether T. gallinae parasites can be detected by PCR from faecal or non-cultured samples from the oral cavity and gastrointestinal tract of infected Turtle Doves (Streptopelia turtur). PCR did not detect T. gallinae parasites in any faecal samples screened, and in only 1 of 11 oral/gastrointestinal samples (from the mouth of a nestling suspected to have died from trichomonosis). We conclude that both oral swabs and parasite culture are still necessary to detect the sub-clinical presence of T. gallinae infection in birds.