MANEN W VAN (2008) Blackcaps Sylvia atricapilla breeding in Bilberry-dominated vegetation in pine woodland. LIMOSA 81 (4): 148-150.

In a breeding bird survey on the Veluwe in The central Netherlands, Blackaps turned out not only to occur in sections of Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest where groups of dense young trees were available, but also in open stands of c. 70-100 year old pines with an understory of only Bilberry Vaccinium myrtillus. The densitity in these stands amounted 2-3 pairs/10 ha, two to three times higher than in the surrounding woodland in the study area of 2388 ha. Finding nests by following birds turned out to be difficult in this type of vegetation. Nests found by coincidence were in the lower parts of fallen pine crowns between bilberry (picture p.149) but in September, when part of the bilberries lost their leaves, one nest was found in a bilberry (picture p. 150). Nesting in bilberry vegetation was not known to me and has not been described in the consulted literature. If and why Blackcaps did not use the quite extensively available bilberry understory in coniferous woodland before, remains unclear.

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