BTO - British Trust for Ornithology - Urban

The State of the UK's Birds 2020

WSKELLORN — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 13:35:42 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

Burns, F., Eaton, M.A., Balmer, D.E., Banks, A., Caldow, R., Donelan, J.L., Douse, A., Duigan, C., Foster, S., Frost, T., Grice, P.V., Hall, C., Hanmer, H.J., Harris, S.J., Johnstone, I., Lindley, P., McCulloch, N., Noble, D.G., Risely, K., Robinson, R.A. & Wotton, S. Our volunteers: the beating heart of BTO data

SUKB collates data from annual, periodic and one-off surveys and monitoring studies of birds, such as the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP), the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP) and Goose and Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP). In addition, the 2020 report also includes results from the Nest Record Scheme, Constant Effort Sites (CES) Scheme and Re-trapping Adults for Survival (RAS) Scheme, the latter two schemes collecting demographic information through the efforts of bird ringers.

The report takes information from these and other schemes, research and surveys and delivers information at a country-specific scale, as well as providing an overview for the UK as a whole.

Volunteers play an essential role in bird monitoring in the UK, by donating their time, energy and expertise. The data they collect are vital for conservation, tracking changes in populations and supporting policy development. This year, many monitoring schemes have been adversely affected by the global COVID-19 pandemic and we want to say a special thank you to all of our volunteers for their continued support through this difficult time. Their skill, effort and dedication deserve huge recognition. Sarah Harris, BBS National Organiser

Woodland species

This year’s report highlights the continuing poor fortunes of the UK’s woodland birds. The UK Wild Bird Populations Indicator for woodland species show a long-term decline of 27% since the early 1970s, with declines of 7% evident over just the last five years. More worryingly, when looking at individual trends within the report, some specialist woodland birds have declined dramatically, including Willow Tit with a 94% decline since 1970 as illustrated by the joint Common Birds Census / Breeding Bird Survey UK-wide trend.

After worrying declines in breeding Tawny owl populations were flagged-up by the Breeding Bird Survey, BTO launched targeted survey work on this species during 2018 and 2019. SUKB reports on some of the results from this research, which revealed a decline in site occupancy from 65% in 2005 to 53% in 2018/19. The BTO work has also sought to understand some of the reasons for this change in fortunes.

Results at different scales

Data from many of the surveys covered in SUKB also feed into European-wide schemes and the SUKB report goes from celebrating the publication of the latest European Breeding Bird Atlas, through to finer-scale country-specific results and research. Not bad for an 80 page report!

Country-specific headlines include increases in House Sparrow populations in Wales, where work is also taking place to address the pronounced decline in Curlew numbers. In Scotland, the fragile status of Corncrake is highlighted, alongside increases in farmland species such as Tree Sparrow and Yellowhammer. The Northern Ireland pages look into changing fortunes of seabirds and explore how proposed marine Special Protection Areas may be used to tackling the observed decline. The Northern Ireland pages also examine declines in wintering geese, such as Light-bellied Brent Goose. Finally, over to England and promising results for Stone Curlew conservation work, as well as reporting back on the English Winter Bird Survey for which 1,485 sites were surveyed by volunteers to help us understand the value of agri-environment options.

As in previous reports, we hear about species from 14 UK Overseas Territories and three Crown Dependencies – including Black-browed Albatross, St Helena Plover and South Georgia Pipit, about the Gough Island Restoration Programme, and discover that 69 species in the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies are now Globally Threatened.

Closer to home, 25 years of BTO Garden BirdWatch is also celebrated, with Goldfinch now the 8th most commonly recorded garden bird, up from 20th back in 1995.

Volunteers

There is a common theme in this report: volunteers. The sheer enormity of their contributions to bird monitoring as a whole is evident throughout this report. Most of the surveys and schemes covered here are only possible thanks to the dedication and skills of the thousands of volunteers who give up their time to help monitor birds and in turn, inform conservation action. Thank you.

Who produces this report?

SUKB 2020 is produced by a coalition of three NGOs: the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), together with the UK’s statutory nature conservation bodies: Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs, Northern Ireland (DAERA), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Natural England (NE), Natural Resources Wales (NRW) and NatureScot.

Garden Bird Feeding Survey

WILLIAMSKELLORN — Mon, 15 Oct 2018 10:22:42 +0000

The Garden Bird Feeding Survey (GBFS) has charted the use of food supplements by birds in gardens for over 40 years. The network of householders that participate in the survey extends across the UK.

Garden BirdWatch Friday, May 1, 1970 - 00:00

For over 40 winters, GBFS has charted dramatic comings and goings at bird feeders. The survey has seen this activity evolve from a small-scale pastime based mainly on the provision of kitchen scraps to a multi-million pound industry. Indeed, it is estimated that around half of UK householders feed birds in their garden providing some 50-60 thousand tonnes of bird food per annum. With increased commercialisation has come a plethora of new bird foods and associated feeding equipment. The GBFS results suggest that these changes have opened the garden gate to many once infrequent garden visitors.

Only a relatively small number of people participate in the GBFS each winter. Gardens are chosen carefully from existing members of the Garden BirdWatch survey, ensuring good coverage across the UK and a roughly even split between rural and suburban gardens.

Participants often stay with the GBFS for a number of winters (some have even spanned the past four decades!) but occasionally people drop out. As and when vacancies become available participants from the larger Garden BirdWatch survey are approached to take their place. Thanks to the dedicated observations of GBFS participants over 40 years of data have now been collected.

Existing Garden BirdWatchers can help reveal how the food we provide affects the birds visiting our gardens Watch what your garden birds eat to provide additional insights

1970/71 - GBFS commences
01/1995 - Garden BirdWatch launches - GBFS participants drawn from GBW

Small amount of time required in addition to usual weekly Garden BirdWatch count. Must be a preexisting Garden BirdWatch member, selected to participate. Confident garden bird identification skills. Develop your bird identification skills with our courses and training days.

ongoing Garden birds volunteers No

Breeding Bird Survey

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:46:31 +0000

The Breeding Bird Survey is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread breeding birds. The survey involves two early-morning spring visits to a 1-km square, to count all the birds you see or hear while walking two parallel 1-km lines across the square.

Breeding Bird SurveyButterfly Monitoring Friday, April 1, 1994 - 00:00

BBS monitors the population changes of 118 breeding bird species across the UK thanks to the dedication of almost 3,000 volunteers who survey their randomly selected 1-km square each spring.

The BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s common and widespread breeding birds, producing population trends for 118 bird and nine mammal species.

The survey involves a recce visit and two early-morning spring visits to an allocated 1-km square, to count all the birds you see or hear while walking two 1-km lines across the square and record any nest counts for colonial nesting birds in the square.

You can optionally record mammals and visit your square later in the season to survey for butterflies. There is the option to return data on paper, via field recording forms or to submit your data on BBS-Online.

Support the future of our birds

Our surveys are vital. The data they produce help us drive positive change for the UK’s birds.

But increased pressure on funding is putting our surveys and data at risk – which is why we need your support.

Donate today

bbs-report-2022-cover.jpg

Read the latest BBS report

The Breeding Bird Survey started in 1994, and a report is produced every year containing population changes and other results from the scheme.

The 2022 Breeding Bird Survey Report reveals a mixed picture, especially for birds which breed in farmland habitats.

Read the 2022 Breeding Bird Survey report

How to take part

Find out how to request a square and what the survey entails.

Results

Explore the results from the data BBS volunteers provide.

Mammal recording

Find out how to record mammals during your BBS visits.

Count butterflies on your BBS square

Take part in the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey by making additional visits to your BBS square.

How to enter BBS data online

Instructions and video tutorials on submitting your BBS data.

Download BBS forms

Download and print BBS recording forms instructions and recording forms.

Support the future of our birds

Our surveys are vital. The data they produce help us drive positive change for the UK’s birds.

But increased pressure on funding is putting our surveys and data at risk – which is why we need your support.

Donate today

Take part in BBS - counting for conservation

David White

James Heywood

February – March Forms sent or downloaded
March Reconnaissance visit
Early April – mid May Early visit
Mid May – late June Late visit
May – August Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey
End of August Data entry deadline

Undertake three site visits between April and June - a recce and two morning visits, along with data entry. Able to identify UK breeding birds by sight, song and call. If you have the necessary bird ID skills to take part in the Breeding Bird Survey but want to learn more about survey methods, there are a number of BTO training courses covering this subject.

ongoing Farmland birdsUpland birdsWoodland birdsOther species volunteers

BTO Urban AppealWider Countryside Butterfly SurveyAssessing agri-environment schemes No bbs@bto.org

Garden BirdWatch

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Feb 2018 11:46:31 +0000

Help with research into garden wildlife by joining our Garden BirdWatch network for free.

Garden BirdWatch Sunday, January 1, 1995 - 00:00

BTO has run the year-round Garden BirdWatch scheme since 1995, and thousands of people across the UK contribute their sightings each week.
Gardens are really important habitats for wildlife, but we need to understand how and why populations of garden birds and other wildlife are changing, and how we can help them.
You can help by keeping a simple list and telling us which species visit each week, helping us learn about how wildlife uses the food, shelter and other resources in our gardens.
The more we can understand about how birds and animals use our gardens, the more we can improve our cities, towns, villages and individual gardens for wildlife.
Sign up for Garden BirdWatch!

How to take part

Garden BirdWatch annual results

Drawing competition winners

Join Garden BirdWatch for free

Tell us which birds you see outside your window and become more connected to nature.

Join and start your list today

Help with research into garden wildlife by joining our Garden BirdWatch community. Learn about the birds in your garden with Garden BirdWatch

Robert Jaques

Jan 1995 - Garden BirdWatch recording begins
Dec 2010 - Big Garden Beakwatch Survey launched
Dec 2011 - Abnormal Plumage Survey launched
Jan 2014 - Garden Wildlife Health project launched

Subscribe to email newsletter As much as you like, but a minimum of 20 minutes per week recommended. Can identify common garden birds by sight.

ongoing Garden birdsUrban birds volunteers

BTO Urban AppealGarden BirdWatch and our garden and urban bird researchOur volunteers: the beating heart of BTO data No gbw@bto.org

Join GBW for free

Become more connected to nature, learn about your garden wildlife and contribute to important scientific research by joining our community of Garden BirdWatchers.

Join Garden BirdWatch today

Sharing our gull tracking expertise in a study of Dublin’s ‘noisy neighbours’

WEBSITEEDITOR — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:40:29 +0000

PhD student Jon Willans takes us through his fascination with gulls and his fieldwork, which was supported by our scientists. No

Jon Willans PhD student at University College Dublin

Jon has been studying and working with birds for the past 16 years in his native Canada, as well as in Ireland, the USA, Costa Rica, Uzbekistan and the UK.

These are just some of the comments I have heard after people learn that I am a PhD student studying the movement ecology of urban gulls. It turns out that, apparently, not everyone likes gulls or finds them as interesting as I do.

Here in Dublin, like in many coastal cities around Ireland and the UK, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of nesting gulls over the past 30 years. Unfortunately for the gulls, they haven’t been universally welcomed with open arms.

Some human residents feel that the addition of gulls to urban areas should be looked at as a cause for concern and outrage, rather than celebrated as a boost to gull populations — despite drastic declines in gull numbers that have led to some species being listed as of significant conservation concern in Ireland. And human–gull conflict is a growing issue in some cities, where officials are increasingly being pressured into action to control bird numbers by means such as egg oiling, nest removal and even culling.

But, as urban-nesting gulls are a relatively new phenomenon, little is known about how these birds are using these urban environments. Do urban-nesting birds even use the sea? Do they leave the city at all? How does their movement differ from ‘natural’ coastal nesting gulls? Do these coastal-nesting birds generally use the marine habitat for foraging, or do they also spend large amounts of time in the city to find food? The answers to these questions are extremely important when it comes to making any decisions about gull population management.

Urban nesting gulls are a relatively new phenomenon, so little is known about how these birds are using their environment.

An introduction to our research

It was these questions which brought our team, consisting of researchers from University College Dublin (UCD), BirdWatch Ireland, the Irish Midlands Ringing Group and the British Trust for Ornithology, to Ireland at the end of May, to try and shed some light on the movement of locally breeding Herring Gulls.

Specifically, in this study, we wanted to investigate whether there is a difference in the movement ecology — how birds navigate through habitats, and where they go — between birds nesting in urban spaces and on islands around the coast. To determine this, we needed to find both an inland colony and a coastal colony of nesting gulls, and attach GPS units to individual birds. We could then analyse data from birds in the two colony locations to see if or how these birds differ in their use of Dublin’s urban landscape.

Tracking urban gulls ...

university_college_dublin_campus-by-leandro-neumann-ciuffo.jpg

The UCD campus hosts several roof-nesting groups of gulls.

The first stop for the team was the UCD campus in south Dublin — our urban study site — where a small but increasing community of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls can be found nesting on many of the rooftops around the university. While this type of environment is not traditionally associated with ideal habitat for nesting gulls, when you look closer you notice that the campus has everything that the gulls might require.

The tall buildings act as cliffs, where gulls can make their nests with an unobstructed view of their environment, safe from most predators. The many ponds and sports fields on and around the campus provide an ample amount of water and natural feeding opportunities.

A plentiful supply of food is also provided by the thousands of students and staff that make the daily trip onto the campus. On any given day, particularly when the sun is shining, hundreds of people can be found sitting outside eating. Gulls are often fed by these people, but they are also known to snatch food from unsuspecting diners when their hints for a snack are not being met accordingly. The gulls also feast on the mess that is left behind after people have moved on, which sometimes includes pulling rubbish from bins in search of a quick meal. Indeed, some may say this is an urban sanctuary for these birds.

The goal of our team was to catch some of the local birds and attach lightweight GPS units to them, which would give us some information about how these birds are using their environments.

The goal of our team was to catch some of the local birds and attach lightweight GPS units to them, which would give us some information about how these birds are using their urban environments. Over the next two days, working on four different rooftops and spending a considerable amount of time waiting for the unsuspecting birds to walk into the carefully placed, specialist traps, we managed to catch six breeding Herring Gulls.

Once we had taken the birds safely out of the traps, the team went into action. The birds were weighed, and we collected morphometric data like wing, bill and head length. Then we attached uniquely coded rings to their legs and fitted them with their solar-powered GPS units. These units gather and transmit data about the birds’ location and movement speed, which we can use to identify the birds’ behaviours — such as foraging, feeding or resting — as the birds navigate around the landscape.

With six tags deployed and each one actively collecting data, stage one of this mission was complete. We had tagged our urban birds.

... and coastal gulls

jon_williams_by_a._kane_2.png

Jon conducting fieldwork on Dalkey Island, the coastal study site.

Stage two involved moving operations to Dalkey Island, some 10 km to the south-east of UCD as the gull flies.

Although the island is only separated from the mainland by approximately 350 m, after getting off the ferry it felt like stepping into another world. From the herd of Old Irish goats that stopped their grazing to observe us as we arrived on their island, to the sound of the breeding gulls and the buzzing Arctic Terns that nest there, it couldn't have been further removed from the university campus.

Dalkey Island is a more traditional place to find breeding gulls: a rocky coastal area with some scrubby turf and thrift, and plenty of nooks and ledges to make a scrape-like nest. The island has large nesting colonies of Herring, Great Black-backed and Lesser Black-backed Gulls, and when we visited, pairs were scattered all across the island’s east side. Segregated zones marked the presence of the different species: while the massive and intimidating Great Black-backs watched from up high on the grassy slopes, the Herring Gulls were lower down and mainly confined to the rocky areas near the shore and the Lesser Black-backs were scattered at the north end of the colony.

We set more traps and over the next two days, seven more Herring Gulls were caught and selected to collect data for us, fitted with GPS units and sent on their way. Now we had our coastal nesting birds as well. Job done! Well, almost ...

What will we learn about Dublin’s ‘noisy neighbours’?

Early data returns from the GPS units show that there may well be differences in the way these groups of birds behave and use the urban landscape.

Over the next two years, all the GPS tags that the team has worked so hard, and suffered so many bitten fingers, to deploy will be transmitting data back to us and revealing just exactly how the gulls spend their time as they move around this country and perhaps even further afield.

The next step in the research involves analysing all this information. Early data returns from the GPS units show that there may well be differences in the way the urban- and coastal-nesting birds behave and use the urban landscape. As expected, both groups of birds spend a great deal of time inland, visiting the downtown core and the suburbs around the city. However, one initial difference appears to be the birds’ use of the sea: coastal nesting birds make frequent feeding trips out to sea, while the urban nesting birds seldom use this resource and appear to be full-time city dwellers.

Map showing tracks of 13 GPS-tagged Herring Gulls from UCD Campus (yellow square) and Dalkey Island (pink square) between 25–30 May 2023.

Is the sea in ‘seagull’ even applicable to all of these birds? As the data they have unknowingly collected are analysed, all will be revealed — and I for one cannot wait.

The tags deployed over this week of fieldwork will continue to record the movements of these gulls until the specially-designed harnesses break apart and relieve the birds of their GPS units.

What secrets will these data reveal? Is the sea in ‘seagull’ even applicable to all of these birds? These secrets will remain with our gulls for the meantime, but soon, as these birds move around on their daily adventures and the data they have unknowingly collected are analysed, all will be revealed — and I for one cannot wait.

Help us monitor gulls this winter

If you are confident identifying the six main species of gull found in the UK in winter — Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed, Black-headed, Common and Mediterranean — you could join our Winter Gull Survey.

Volunteers will only need to make a small number of visits to gull roosts between 2023 and 2025, but their contributions will help us fill in vital gaps in our understanding of these Amber- and Red-listed species.

How to take part in WinGS

PhD student Jon Willans takes us through his fascination with gulls and his fieldwork, which was supported by our scientists.

1 December 2023

“Why would you want to study seagulls?”
“Those birds are pests — they don’t even belong in cities.”
“They are so noisy!”

15 Dec 2023

Ireland

Using butterfly survey data to model habitat associations in urban developments

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 11:24:45 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

More Details

Cooper, J.E.J., Plummer, K.E., Middlebrook, I. & Siriwardena, G.M. Journal of Applied Ecology 10.1111/1365-2664.14583

1. One approach for measuring the potential biodiversity in new urban construction projects is through ecological models that predict how wildlife will respond. For the United Kingdom, such models have only been developed for birds, but to maximise the extent to which models represent overall biodiversity, species from different indicator groups must be considered.

2. Here, we assess this possibility for butterflies by combining citizen science survey data with high-resolution digital maps. We derive detailed characteristics of urban landscapes around survey sites using previously established methods and quantify their relationship to counts of adults of 18 butterfly species in urban and peri-urban settings.

3. Higher butterfly counts were found when traversing urban sites with larger areas of semi-natural grassland, other managed greenspaces, and adjacent arable land. Most of the butterfly community were found to have negative relationships with highly built-up or fragmented landscapes.

4. We found high species-specificity for different details of urban form, particularly in habitat elements such as gardens, vegetation around railways, and grass verges.

5. Policy implications: Improving biodiversity is now part of legislation governing new construction projects from England and Wales. However, predicting quantitative changes from hypothetical land-use modifications remains challenging. Our models provide the foundation through which butterfly abundance could be integrated into an urban biodiversity assessment tool, providing species- and community-level statistics to non-specialists from the urban planning and design sector. This would allow them to hone configurations for built surfaces, private gardens, greenspaces, and wildlife areas and assess their capacity to provide residents with the intended access to nature.

The authors thank the hundreds of volunteers who have contributed to the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) and the UKBMS partnership who manage the surveys: Butterfly Conservation (BC), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH), and British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). This project was funded by a partnership with the BTO, CEH and JNCC. MasterMap data were provided by the EDINA Digimap Ordnance Survey Service, (May 2017).

Winter Gull Survey relaunched after 20 years to assess vulnerable gull populations

WEBSITEEDITOR — Mon, 13 Nov 2023 17:09:38 +0000

13 Nov 2023

The Winter Gull Survey (WinGS) was created in 1952 to collect information about the population size and distribution of gulls wintering in the UK, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. Over 70 years later the survey’s overarching objective remains the same but is underpinned by a new urgency: a need to understand and address the various gulls’ recently acquired Red and Amber conservation status.

All the gull species that regularly occur in the UK are listed in Birds of Conservation Concern on the Amber or Red List.

Recent assessments of bird populations in the UK have revealed a decline in both breeding and overwintering populations of gulls. As a result, all gull species that regularly occur in the UK are now listed in the assessment on the Amber or Red List in Birds of Conservation Concern.

The declines are worrying because the UK harbours a significant proportion of the global population of breeding gulls of various species: currently, there are over 50 sites in the UK that have been designated as Special Protection Areas (SPAs) or Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) due to the presence of internationally important numbers of gulls during the breeding season. These sites have enhanced legal protection for wildlife, and are often managed by conservation organisations to help boost populations of vulnerable species.

winter_gull_roost_by_ian_sheppard.png

Winter gull roost, by Ian Sheppard.

Wintering gulls in the UK

The UK is also recognised as an important area for gulls during the winter period. Over the colder months, the gulls’ geographic distribution shifts significantly, and the birds often occupy regions outside of their breeding areas. However, these winter ranges are not considered when designating protected sites, which means that there is little targeted conservation for wintering gulls.

In the upcoming WinGS surveys, we aim to address this gap in protected site designation by monitoring overwintering gulls, collecting key information about their population size and distribution, and providing evidence to underpin the conservation of these species.

How will BTO monitor gulls?

wings-volunteer-at-a-roost-count-by-teresa-frost.jpg

WinGS volunteers will visit key gull roost sites at dusk.

Gulls disperse widely over the landscape during daylight hours, making them a tricky group of species to monitor. Their habit of gathering to roost at dusk provides the best way to make accurate assessments of their numbers. WinGS, which will run during the winters of 2023/24 and 2024/25, is a bespoke survey designed to take advantage of this roosting behaviour.

WinGS volunteers will survey known roost sites at large estuaries and reservoirs – ‘key’ sites – and identify and count the gulls in flight as they arrive in huge numbers around dusk. Some major key sites will necessitate team coordination and create fantastic opportunities for surveyors to connect with fellow gull enthusiasts! WinGS also includes planned visits to ‘random’ sample sites at both inland and coastal locations, which will enable us to generate complete UK-wide population estimates.

The comprehensive WinGS roost counts that we will carry out over the next two years will make a significant step towards addressing the information gaps about gull populations that have arisen in the past two decades.

Both the key and random sites need to be visited at least once in January of 2024 and 2025, and also in the autumn of 2024, when we will assess what are known as ‘post-breeding aggregations’ of birds.

Our focus will be directed towards the six most prevalent gull species in the UK: Black-headed, Common, Herring, Lesser Black-backed, Great Black-backed and Mediterranean Gulls. The Mediterranean Gull was not included as a target species in previous survey seasons of WinGS, but we have decided to include this elegant gull in the scheme in the upcoming surveys due to its increasing reliance on UK sites in the winter months, and the UK’s increasing responsibility for its conservation. This trend was revealed by the BTO/RSPB/JNCC Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS), which saw a sharp increase in the number of these birds recorded at WeBS count sites after 2017.

Charting change

black-headed-gull-by-alan-drewitt-bto.jpg

The Black-headed Gull was the most numerous species during the previous WinGS survey season (2003/04–2005/06), but has declined by as much as 40% since that time.

Long-time BTO survey participants may remember the last WinGS season, which took place during the winters of 2003/04 and 2005/06. At that time, data collected by the survey participants concluded that inland and near-shore coastal waters of the UK supported over 3.8 million wintering gulls.

The most abundant gull species recorded during that survey period was the Black-headed Gull, with an estimated two million birds wintering across the UK. However, more recent population trends based on WeBS data have pointed towards substantial declines of around 40% in this species’ wintering numbers. This trend has no doubt been exacerbated by the effects of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which is thought to have killed around 10% of the total UK breeding population of Black-headed Gulls since March 2023.

WinGS will produce robust evidence and support the development and implementation of effective conservation strategies for the UK’s gulls.

As the previous survey season was so many years ago, we expect to find other changes in the gull populations too. The comprehensive WinGS roost counts that we will carry out over the next two years will make a significant step towards building an up-to-date understanding of how gull populations have altered in the last two decades.

We will combine the information revealed by the WinGS data with that of other key monitoring schemes, including WeBS and the Seabird Monitoring Programme, to produce robust evidence and support the development and implementation of effective conservation strategies for the UK’s gulls.

Learn more about WinGS

Learn about the project’s history and aims, and how to get involved.

Yes

Winter Gull Survey

Trends in butterfly populations in UK gardens - new evidence from citizen science monitoring

MIKETOMS — Mon, 22 May 2023 13:28:23 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

More Details

Plummer, K.E., Dadam, D., Brereton, T., Dennis, E.B., Massimino, D., Risely, K., Siriwardena, G.M. & Toms, M.P. Insect Conservation and Diversity 10.1111/icad.12645 Private gardens are recognised as potentially important refugia for butterflies. Yet little is known about how gardens might be contributing to butterfly conservation, as their restricted accessibility has meant that garden habitats are not well-represented in traditional monitoring schemes. Garden BirdWatch (GBW) is the UK’s largest structured bird survey, comprising over 25 years of weekly bird counts from more than 14,000 gardens, predominantly occupying suburban and rural locations. Since 2007, a subset of GBW participants have additionally recorded the weekly abundances of butterflies. Using data for 14 seasons (2007–2020) from 7971 gardens with consistent butterfly monitoring, we present the first garden-specific, national trends for 22 widespread butterfly species (37% of all UK butterflies). Half of the species investigated increased significantly in abundance in gardens between 2007 and 2020. Conversely, only one species, Wall (Lasiommata megera), showed a marginal reduction, though this change was not statistically significant. A strong, positive association between these new, habitat-focused trends and those for UK butterflies more broadly, previously reported by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), indicates that patterns of abundance in gardens are largely a reflection of the changes that are occurring nationally. However, butterflies do appear to be faring better in gardens compared to the wider landscape. Averaging trends across non-migratory species revealed that GBW recorded significantly greater increases over time than UKBMS. Effective monitoring of butterflies in gardens can produce reliable and informative population trends, and it provides important evidence of the significant role gardens play in sustaining butterfly populations. BTO Garden BirdWatch is funded by its participants through an annual subscription and additional donations, and would not be possible without their generosity and support. This analysis was funded through the Garden BirdWatch Research Appeal and we are very grateful to those who donated so generously to the Appeal. We would like to note our particular thanks to John McCaig, whose interest in and support of this research has been especially generous. Thanks also to Clare Simm for her involvement in the earlier stages of this work, and other GBW and IS staff and volunteers for help with data processing and logistical support. Wider Countryside Butterfly SurveyPatterns and causes of covariation in bird and butterfly community structure A niche-based approach for evaluating the mechanisms of community stability in butterfly communities across three countries

Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe

MIKETOMS — Fri, 12 May 2023 14:39:25 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Rigala, S., Dakos, V., Alonso, H., Auniņš, A., Benkőe, Z., Brotons, L., Chodkiewicz, T., Chylareck, P., de Carlil, E., del Moral, J.C., Domșa, C., Escandell, V., Fontaine, B., Foppen, R., Gregory, R., Harris, S., Herrando, S., Husby, M., Leronymidou C., Jiguet, J., Kennedy, J., Klvaňová, A., Kmecl, P., Kuczyński, L. , Kurlavičius, P., Kålås J.A., Lehikoinen, A., Lindström, Å, Lorrillière, R., Moshø, C., Nellis, R., Noble, D., Eskildsen, D.P., Paquet, J-Y., Pelissié, M., Pladevall, C., Portolou, D., Reif, J., Schmid, H., Seaman, B., Szabo, Z.D., Szép, T., Florenzano, G.T., Teufelbauer, N., Trautmann, S., van Turnhout, C., Vermouzek, Z., Vikstrøm, T., Voříšek, P., Weiserbs, A. & Devictor, V. PNAS 10.1073/pnas.2216573120

Declines in European bird populations are reported for decades, but the direct effect of major anthropogenic pressures on such declines remains unquantified. Causal relationships between pressures and bird population responses are difficult to identify as pressures interact at different spatial scales and responses vary among species. Here, we uncover direct relationships between population time series of 170 common bird species, monitored at more than 20,000 sites in 28 European countries, over 37 years, and four widespread anthropogenic pressures, namely agricultural intensification, change in forest cover, urbanization, and climate change (focusing on temperature), over the last decades. We quantify the influence of each pressure on bird population time series as well as its importance relative to other pressures, and we identify the traits of most affected species. We find that agricultural intensification, in particular pesticides and fertilizer use, is the main pressure for most bird population declines, especially for invertebrate feeders. Responses to changes in forest cover, urbanization, and temperature are more species specific. Specifically, forest cover is associated with a positive effect on population dynamics, growing urbanization is associated with a negative effect on population dynamics, while temperature change has an effect on the dynamics of a large number of bird populations, the magnitude and direction of which depend on species’ thermal preferences. Our results not only confirm the pervasive and strong effects of anthropogenic pressures on common breeding birds, but also quantify the relative strength of these effects, stressing the urgent need for transformative changes in the way of inhabiting the world in European countries, if bird populations shall have a chance of recovering.

Using species-habitat models to predict bird counts from urban development plans

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Fri, 28 Apr 2023 09:46:00 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Cooper, J.E.J., Plummer, K.E. & Siriwardena, G.M. Landscape and Urban Planning 10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104629 If urban environments are designed from the outset to be biodiversity-friendly, they can support resilient wildlife communities, improve the wellbeing of inhabitants, and reduce overall costs due to a reduced need for buying compensatory land. Urban planners might best design productive green infrastructure through predictive tools that output rapid, quantitative, and reliable wildlife statistics from digitized plans. Here, we demonstrate how species-habitat models could provide the foundation for such a tool. We took plans for nine housing developments across England and Wales and integrated them with high-resolution digital maps to derive the urban landscape measures used to parameterise previously developed species-habitat models. We produced predictions of abundance for 55 common bird species per development, which we summarised into bird trait groups and overall diversity. We compared predictions between planned developments and designs with alterations to greenspace, woodland, and housing configuration in five scenarios. We found that biodiversity predictions for actual plans were lower than at least one scenario per development, but that the scenario that achieved the highest species diversity varied between sites. This indicates that optimal solutions for bird diversity depend upon the biophysical context of each planned development. We believe that this framework could provide a cost-effective and data-driven approach to support green infrastructure and be of particular importance for urban planners in jurisdictions where such considerations are mandatory. The authors are grateful to the thousands of volunteers who contributed to the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) datasets which were used as part of the modelling process and to Minna Ots, who digitised development maps. This project was funded by a partnership of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), BTO and UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, and the authors thank Niki Newton, Anna Robinson, Michael Pocock, Nick Isaac and Rob Robinson for their support. The BBS is funded by a partnership of BTO, JNCC and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.