BTO - British Trust for Ornithology - Demographics

Nest Record Scheme

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

Nest Record Scheme participants gather vital information on the breeding success of Britain's birds by following the progress of individual nests.

Nest Recording Saturday, April 1, 1939 - 00:00

Every year almost 750 NRS participants monitor over 35,000 nests of different bird species in a variety of habitats. Thanks to the dedication of these volunteers, the BTO and other scientists can use the Nest Record Scheme’s unparalleled long-term dataset to assess the impacts that changes in the environment, such as habitat loss and global warming, have on the productivity of wild birds.

You can participate whether it’s by following the progress of a few nests in your local area, erecting and monitoring boxes or becoming a highly skilled nest finder. As with all BTO surveys, the welfare of birds comes first and we expect all participants to follow the Code of Conduct, a set of precautions designed to ensure that monitoring a nest does not harm or put it at risk.

Want to monitor a small number of nests in your garden?

You might prefer our simple to use garden nest recording survey, called Nesting Neighbours.

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LifeCycle

The biannual magazine of the British & Irish Ringing Scheme and the Nest Record Scheme

NRS Code of Conduct

An essential set of rules for safe and ethical nest monitoring, to be followed by all NRS volunteers

DemOn

Help and support using our online data entry system

Results

See the latest results from NRS volunteers' data

NRS Mentors

Get guidance from an experienced nest recorder

Nest boxes

Learn about building, buying and siting boxes for different species

Nest Record Scheme participants gather vital information on the breeding success of Britain's birds by following the progress of individual nests. Help monitor nests to capture vital life cycle data

Lee Barber

Early Feb Look out for early nesters like Long-tailed Tit
Late Apr Most residents and migrants now nesting
Early Sep Still time for late nesters like Goldfinch and Woodpigeon
End Oct Records needed for early analysis of the season
End Jan Records needed for full analysis of the season

Read LifeCycle magazine A few minutes on a nest in a garden to a full time project in the field. Count eggs and chicks in nests by following the Code of Conduct. Improve your nest-finding skills on our training courses or contact an NRS mentor.

ongoing Garden birdsFarmland birdsUpland birdsUrban birdsWetland birdsWoodland birds volunteers

LifeCycle issue 10, Spring 2021BTO and COVID-19 No nrs@bto.org

New records chart remarkable lives

MIKETOMS — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 11:24:41 +0000

2023-26 14 Nov 2023

In July 1997, a Black Guillemot chick was ringed in Orkney. This bird successfully fledged from its nest and lived for nearly 25 years without being seen again. In May 2022, the bird was recaptured, still in Orkney, making it the oldest-known Black Guillemot in Britain and Ireland! This is one of the new records – see notes for editors for others – that has just been published in the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) latest ringing and nest recording report, charting the remarkable lives of our birds.

Fitting uniquely numbered rings to chicks in the nest allows scientists to understand exactly how long birds live and to work out how, and potentially why, the numbers that survive change over time. Seabirds like the Amber-listed Black Guillemot can live for a long time but do not produce many young each year. This life history strategy makes their populations particularly vulnerable to periods of increased mortality, such as those caused by Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), which has had a devastating impact on our seabird and waterbird populations over the past three summers.

Britain and Ireland host the majority of Europe’s breeding seabirds, meaning our breeding colonies are of international importance and HPAI could threaten the global conservation status of some species. More positively, there are indications that some seabirds, such as Gannet, which were especially badly impacted by HPAI in 2022, may be developing immunity to the disease, but more research is needed to confirm how long this immunity might last.

Sightings of ringed birds can be submitted to www.ring.ac

Dr Dave Leech, head of the British and Irish Ringing Scheme, says: ‘Ringing will play a key role in monitoring HPAI impacts, as it allows conservationists to follow the fortunes of individual birds, each with a slightly different likelihood of encountering the disease. To date, the amazing efforts of volunteer ringers have helped BTO and the Country Agencies to identify those species and colonies that have been impacted worst by the disease and to quantify the increase in mortality rates during the outbreak. Whether HPAI is here to stay or not remains to be seen but, whatever happens, these data will prove vital in terms of managing populations and supporting their recovery.’

Notes for editors

Around 20,000 pairs of Black Guillemots breed on the rocky coasts of Ireland and north-west Britain. They are one of our most-sedentary seabirds, wintering only a short distance offshore. They are considerably smaller than Guillemots, have bright red feet and all black plumage, except for distinctive white wing patches in summer. They will sometimes breed in nest boxes located in harbour walls.

The British and Irish Ringing Scheme is organised by the BTO and funded by the BTO/JNCC partnership on behalf of the Country Agencies. More than 900,000 birds are ringed in Britain and Ireland each year by around 3,000 trained ringers, most of whom are volunteers. You can help by reporting any ringed bird you find. The annual report on bird ringing is published in the BTO journal Ringing & Migration. For more about ringing, please visit www.bto.org/ringing.

Details of the other new longevity records, set in 2022 (for BTO-ringed birds) appear below. In each case the record is shown after the species name, which is then followed by the ringing details (second line) and finding details (third line); the fourth line shows the distance between ringing and finding, and the time elapsed between the two. The final line shows any comments on the record and this bird.

White-fronted Goose Anser albifrons (19 years 1 month 25 days)
Ring number 1350933 Adult Female 25-01-2003 Slimbridge Swan Pipe (Gloucestershire)
Alive (neck collar seen) 22-03-2022 Gac, Podalskie Poland
1,669 km 19 years 1 month 25 days
Previous record: 18 years 9 months 22 days

Little Egret Egretta garzetta (16 years 6 months 15 days)
Ring number GF49953 Nestling 11-06-2006 Sowley Pond (Hampshire)
Alive (colour rings seen) 26-12-2022 Pennington (Hampshire)
4 km 16 years 6 months 15 days
Previous record: 15 years 2 months 27 days (same bird)

Avocet Recurvirostra avosetta (31 years 7 months 27 days)
Ring number ER2787_$2 Nestling 02-07-1990 Titchwell RSPB Reserve (Norfolk)
Alive (colour rings seen) 01-03-2022 RSPB Titchwell Marsh (Norfolk)
0 km 31 years 7 months 27 days
***Cannot be identified to an individual – one of two. Known age of bird confirmed, but not identity.***
Previous record: 27 years 9 days

Green Sandpiper Tringa ochropus (11 years 4 months 25 days)
Ring number BV13418 First-year 14-11-2010 Lemsford (Hertfordshire)
Alive (colour rings seen) 08-04-2022 Symondshyde Farm (Hertfordshire)
3 km 11 years 4 months 25 days
Previous record: 11 years 1 month 17 days (same bird)

Redshank Tringa totanus (22 years 2 months 17 days)
DB34864 First-year 28-09-2000 Farlington Marshes (Portsmouth)
Alive (colour rings seen) 15-12-2022 Eastney (Hampshire)
4 km 22 years 2 months 17 daus
Previous record: 20 years 8 months 23 days

Black Guillemot Cepphus grylle (24 years 10 months 15 days)
Ring number ET52126 Nestling 16-07-1997 North Ronaldsay (Orkney)
Caught by ringer 31-05-2022 North Ronaldsay (Orkney)
2 km 24 years 10 months 15 days
Previous record: 24 years 8 months 19 days

Stock Dove Columba oenas (10 years 26 days)
Ring number EL36399 Adult Male 01-06-2012 Thetford: 52°24'N 0°45'E (Norfolk)
Caught by ringer 27-06-2022 Thetford: 52°24'N 0°45'E (Norfolk)
0 km 10 years 0 months 26 days
Previous record: 9 years 2 months 12 days

Barn Owl Tyto alba (15 years 7 months 2 days)
Ringing number GC25454 Nestling 24-08-2006 near North Wootton (Norfolk)
Freshly dead 26-03-2022 near Swaffham (Norfolk)
29 km 15 years 7 months 2 days
Previous record: 15 years 3 months 21 days

Chough Pyrrhocorax pyrrhocorax (23 years 10 months 26 days)
Ring number ET54746 Nestling Male 18-05-1998 Site Confidential: c. 53°25'N 4°19'W (Isle of Anglesey)
Alive (colour rings seen) 13-04-2022 (Isle of Anglesey)
23 years 10 months 26 days
Previous record: 23 years 11 days

Bearded Tit Panurus biarmicus (8 years 10 months 22 days)
Ring number D413294 Full-grown Male 29-10-2013 Tay Lodge (Perth and Kinross)
Caught by ringer 20-09-2022 Tay Lodge (Perth and Kinross)
0 km 8 years 10 months 22 days
Previous record: 7 years 3 months

House Sparrow Passer domesticus (13 years 8 months 22 days)
TL62834 Juvenile Male 08-07-2008 Bedwas (Caerphilly)
Alive (colour rings seen) 30-03-2022 Bedwas (Caerphilly)
0 km 13 years 8 months 22 days
Previous record: 12 years 8 months 27 days

A crowded ocean: the need for demographic and movement data in seabird conservation

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Fri, 01 Sep 2023 13:45:30 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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O’Hanlon, N.J., Johnston, D.T., Cook, A.S.C.P., Robinson, R.A. & Humphreys, E.M. Ocean and Coastal Management 10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2023.106833

Species face a multitude of stressors due to human activities, especially in marine environments. Seabirds are among the most threatened group of birds globally. A key challenge in their conservation is quantifying the impact of multiple interacting stressors on populations effectively, especially for species that undertake large-scale movements.

We use the relatively well-studied Black-legged Kittiwake Rissa tridactyla as a case study to highlight knowledge gaps in demographic rates and how key stressors act on populations across different parts of their biogeographic range. From this starting point we provide a strategic approach to identify and prioritise data collection and research efforts from species and regions where data are currently lacking.

Obtaining accurate and precise empirical data on demographic rates and movement will increase the predictive accuracy, and realism, of population models, and confidence in how populations will respond to multiple stressors over the life and annual cycle, facilitating better management decisions.

Cuckoos’ clocks can’t adjust to climate change – now we know why

WEBSITEEDITOR — Wed, 21 Jun 2023 14:46:17 +0000

Why aren’t Cuckoos returning any earlier as spring advances, and why is this important? No

Chris Hewson

Senior Research Ecologist

Chris is a Senior Research Ecologist in the Framing Futures Team where he works on the status, ecology and conservation of Afro-Palaearctic migratory birds and of forest birds across the world.

Projects primarily focus on improving knowledge of the migration ecology of these species, with the aim of understanding the drivers of recent population changes and the likely population impacts of projected environmental change, with the ultimate aim of facilitating restoration of flyways and populations.

Cuckoo Tracking Project

Science

Staff voices

The difference we make

UK springs are starting earlier as the climate warms, with bud burst and the emergence of invertebrates such as caterpillars that eat this young vegetation happening earlier too. These invertebrates are a vital and ephemeral food source for breeding birds, so migratory species that have not advanced their migrations and subsequent breeding accordingly risk missing out.

One species that has not significantly shifted the timing of its spring migration forward is the Cuckoo, the iconic harbinger of spring. Previous BTO work has shown that the advance in the Cuckoo’s arrival has been smaller than that of many other species, and it has undergone a substantial population decline, in England especially.

In general, both migratory and resident species that have not advanced their breeding have undergone greater population declines than others, but there’s been limited evidence linking this to a reduction in breeding success in these species. This suggests that other demographic pathways, such as adult survival, may be important. Understanding why some migratory species have not advanced their arrival, and what the consequences of this are outside of the breeding season, is therefore vital for understanding population declines and helping us work out the best ways to help.

Investigating the drivers of the Cuckoo’s migratory schedule

Satellite-tagged Cuckoo. Mike Toms / BTO

Using data from 87 adult male Cuckoos tagged as part of BTO’s Cuckoo Tracking Project, we looked at which events across their annual migratory schedule were most important in determining when birds arrived back to the breeding grounds. We also looked at whether migratory timing affected mortality risk at different migratory stages. And to help us understand variation in timing across the annual cycle, we examined whether timing was consistent between individuals.

We found that the timing of departure from the pre-Sahara crossing stopover in West Africa in spring is the most important factor in determining when Cuckoos arrive back to the UK. Furthermore, both the high level of synchrony across the population at this stage and relatively modest levels of consistent timing differences between individuals suggest that environmental conditions constrain when birds can depart from this stopover.

Our tracking work has revealed that Cuckoos use this stopover in March and April each year. In this part of Africa, rains arrive at this time every year, moving up from the southern hemisphere in association with a system known as the Intertropical Convergence Zone. These rains bring about a flush of invertebrate prey, which migratory species such as the Cuckoo rely on to fuel their northward journeys. This study is the first to find that departure from a stopover site limits a land bird species’ arrival to its breeding grounds across multiple years.

In addition to departure from West Africa, we found that spring arrival on the breeding grounds was determined to lesser, but important, extent by migration speed during the northward journey across Europe, as well as the timing of Cuckoos’ arrival south of the Sahara the previous autumn. The latter is surprising given that earlier research has shown timing differences between individuals are largely reset during the winter period – there is usually only a limited carry-over effect of timing from autumn to spring migration.

Why can’t Cuckoos change their clocks?

Previous research looking at patterns across many species has shown that, in general, the timing of departure from the wintering grounds is the major determinant of variation in when migratory birds arrive back to their breeding sites. The timing of this departure also has a higher level of consistent differences between individuals than other events. This indicates a greater direct control by internal migration programmes. Hence, an advance in the timing of departure from wintering sites provides a potential evolutionary mechanism via which spring arrival at breeding grounds can also be advanced.

Our results show, however, that this is not an option for UK Cuckoos. The timing of their departure from their wintering grounds in the Congo rainforest zone has little effect on when they arrive back to their breeding sites; in fact, all other things being equal, birds that depart their wintering grounds later arrive back a little earlier.

These results help us to understand both why the phenological response (the timing of annual cycle events) to climate change is so limited in some species, and why migratory species which travel further are less likely to be able to advance their spring arrival timing than ones that make shorter journeys. Similar results might be found for some other very long-distance migrants which, like the Cuckoo, migrate to the southern hemisphere for the midwinter period and rely on stopovers in the northern tropics to prepare for crossing the Sahara in spring. Overall, the seasonality of sites used across the annual cycle is likely to be more important than their position in the annual cycle in determining their relationship to breeding grounds arrival and the potential for its advance.

Why is it important to understand what drives birds’ migratory behaviour?

Cuckoos which arrive earlier in the UK to establish the best territories risk a higher level of mortality. Edmund Fellowes / BTO

By looking at how mortality risk varied with timing across the annual cycle, we were able to gain some important insights into how these limitations to migratory change can impact individual birds, and therefore potentially populations.

In periods following the migration stages that were most important in determining the timing of arrival on breeding grounds, early birds were more likely to die than later ones. This suggests that, to try to gain the benefits of early breeding grounds arrival, such as claiming the best breeding territories, birds suffer increased mortality risk. In other words, there is a trade-off between survival and the benefits of early arrival, perhaps due to birds migrating with less on-board fuel than they otherwise would. Such risks may become more necessary as birds try to keep up with climate change on the breeding grounds.

The fact that we found that migration timing didn’t reset during the midwinter period, and that part of post-breeding migration is included in the periods when birds appear to be exposing themselves to these risks, suggests that in the case of UK Cuckoos, all ecological levers are being pulled in an attempt to advance spring arrival. The resulting increased mortality may form part of the demographic mechanisms linking failure to advance spring arrival to population declines.

Using our research to help birds adapt to global change

Providing higher quality habitat at breeding grounds like Wheatfen, Norfolk will support Cuckoos. Phil Atkinson / BTO

Not only do these results help in understanding why some species are not keeping pace with ever earlier springs and advancing their arrival to the breeding grounds, and how this might impact their populations, it also helps to show how we might help these birds cope better with the demands of global change.

We can identify pinch points in the annual cycle that impact spring arrival, and where early birds are at increased risk of mortality. The stresses these birds are under can potentially be alleviated by improving habitat quality at stopovers, to increase fattening rates and reduce costly trade-offs between survival and reproduction. The most important places to concentrate flyway restoration efforts are the stopovers used in spring and autumn to prepare for the Sahara crossings and, to lesser extent, the areas used to recover from the Sahara crossings and migration across Europe in spring.

As we also found that birds that were late leaving the breeding grounds were at greater risk of dying than those leaving earlier, suggesting they are energetically limited at this point, provision of better-quality habitat on the breeding grounds is also a priority.

Cuckoos in our past and in our future

These results shed light on one of the oldest mysteries in folklore – what determines when Cuckoos arrive back at their breeding sites, and whether they really are a sign that spring is here...Ultimately, they could help us reverse the Cuckoo’s population decline in the UK.

These results shed light on one of the oldest mysteries in folklore – what determines when Cuckoos arrive back at their breeding sites and whether they really are a sign that spring is here. These results show that in fact, events occurring more than three thousand miles away are more important in determining overall variation in Cuckoo arrival back to the UK than events closer to home. But when focusing specifically on whether individual birds are early or late relative to their own schedule in different years, it seems that conditions in Europe are much more important. So, as Cuckoos are very faithful to their breeding sites, the old adage that Cuckoos are a sign that spring is on the way may well contain some truth from a local perspective after all.

In our future work, we will need to assess exactly how the departure of Cuckoos from critical stopover sites is impacted by the combination of climatic and habitat factors birds experience. This will give us a better idea of how each currently contributes to the timing and success of migrations, and how best we might use habitat restoration to help birds improve migratory performance, and ultimately, reverse their population declines in the UK.

2 June 2023 Can Cuckoos adapt their clocks to climate change?

Several studies from BTO and elsewhere have revealed alarming declines in species that breed in the UK and spend our winter months in Africa. However, these declines are less severe in migratory species that have adjusted the timing of their arrival back to their UK breeding grounds to keep pace with ever earlier northern hemisphere springs. But one species that has not significantly shifted the timing of its spring migration forward is the Cuckoo, the iconic harbinger of spring.

21 Jun 2023 no

Reduced breeding success in Great Black-backed Gulls Larus marinus due to harness-mounted GPS device

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 08:39:23 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Langlois Lopez, S., Clewley, G.D., Johnston, D.T., Daunt, F., Wildon, J.M., O'Hanlon, N.J. & Masden, E. Ibis 10.1111/ibi.13247 Animal-borne bio-logging devices are routinely fitted to seabirds to learn about their behaviour and physiology, as well as their interactions with the marine environment. The assessment and reporting of deleterious impacts from such devices on the individuals carrying them is critical to inform future work and improve data quality and animal welfare. We assessed the impacts of thoracic-harness attachments on the breeding performance and inter-annual return rates of Great Black-backed Gulls. We found that tagged individuals hatched fewer eggs per nest (0.67) than two different control groups (handled but not tagged – 2.0, and not handled – 1.9) and had lower hatching success rates per nest (27% compared to 81% and 82% in control groups). Inter-annual return rates were similar between tagged and control groups, but the harness attachment potentially caused the death of an individual five days after deployment. Overall, the harness attachment was a lead driver of nest failure. We urge extreme caution to those wanting to use harness-mounted devices on Great Black-backed Gulls. NatureScot allowed this work to be carried out on the Isle of May. The Isle of May Bird Observatory provided metal and colour rings to mark Great Black-backed Gulls and fieldworkers. This work was funded under the NERC Scottish Universities Partnership for environmental Research (SUPER) Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) (Grant reference number NE/S007342/1 with additional funding provided by the University of the Highlands and Islands, and the Scottish Government.

Temporal avoidance as a means of reducing competition between sympatric species

MIKETOMS — Mon, 22 May 2023 15:09:27 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Maziarz, M., Broughton, R.K., Beck, K.B., Robinson, R.A. & Sheldon, B.C. Royal Society Open Science 10.1098/rsos.230521 Human activity has modified the availability of natural resources and the abundance of species that rely on them, potentially changing interspecific competition dynamics. Here, we use large-scale automated data collection to quantify spatio-temporal competition among species with contrasting population trends. We focus on the spatial and temporal foraging behaviour of subordinate marsh tits Poecile palustris among groups of socially and numerically dominant blue tits Cyanistes caeruleus and great tits Parus major. The three species exploit similar food resources in mixed groups during autumn–winter. Using 421 077 winter recordings of individually marked birds at 65 automated feeding stations in Wytham Woods (Oxfordshire, UK), we found that marsh tits were less likely to join larger groups of heterospecifics, and they accessed food less frequently in larger groups than in smaller ones. Marsh tit numbers within groups declined throughout the diurnal and winter periods, while the number of blue and great tits increased. However, sites that attracted larger groups of these heterospecifics also attracted more marsh tits. The results suggest that subordinate species exhibit temporal avoidance of socially and numerically dominant heterospecifics, but have limited ability for spatial avoidance, indicating that behavioural plasticity enables only a partial reduction of interspecific competition. We thank the many people who collected the data as part of the Wytham Social Networks group project between 2011 and 2014, especially Ross Crates for coordinating much of the winter fieldwork. We are very grateful to Josh A. Firth for his valuable comments on the manuscript.

BirdTrends 2022: Trends in numbers, breeding success and survival for UK breeding birds

WILLIAMSKELLORN — Wed, 15 Feb 2023 11:45:03 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Massimino, D., Woodward, I.D., Barber, L., Barimore, C., Harris, S.J., Leech, D.I., Noble, D.G., Walker, R.H., Baillie, S.R. & Robinson, R.A.

Nest survival of threatened Eurasian Curlew (Numenius arquata) breeding at low densities across a human-modified landscape

VIOLA.ROSS-SMITH — Sat, 24 Dec 2022 19:50:25 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Ewing, H., Franks, S., Smart, J., Burton, N. & Gill, J.A. Ibis 10.1111/ibi.13180

Targeted management actions to boost key demographic rates can help to restore rare and localised populations but are increasingly required to stabilise or reverse declines of formerly common and widespread species. Many breeding wader populations across Europe are declining because of unsustainably low rates of productivity, and the conservation tools designed to boost wader breeding productivity have been most effectively used for semi-colonial species within protected areas.

Targeted management for wader species that breed at low densities across human-modified landscapes, such as the rapidly declining Eurasian Curlew Numenius arquata, is likely to be more challenging. Here, we quantify variation in curlew nest survival in order to explore how management could be targeted to boost this key component of breeding productivity. Up to 80 pairs of Eurasian Curlew were monitored annually between 2019 and 2021 in eight locations across Breckland, eastern England, where nesting densities range from < 1 to ca.7 pairs per km-2.

For 136 nests across grassland- and arable-dominated sites, the majority of failure (86%) was caused by (primarily nocturnal) predation and the mean probability of surviving incubation (PSI) for all hatched or predated nests (127) was ca. 0.25. Nest survival showed little annual or seasonal variation but did vary slightly between sites, however, this spatial variation was not clearly related to management conditions or nest concealment at these sites.

Fencing to exclude mammalian nest predators can be effective for waders, but too few Eurasian Curlews currently nest within fenced areas in Breckland to produce observable effects. Fencing the few sites with high nesting densities could potentially double the number of chicks hatched each year within the study area, but landscape-scale actions to reduce predator impacts on nests and chicks are likely to be needed to maintain breeding numbers in the wider countryside.

The authors are extremely grateful to the land-owners and managers who granted permission for this research to be conducted on their land, as well as to the many supportive farmers, gamekeepers, graziers, conservationists and members of the Breckland community for their help monitoring nesting curlew throughout this project.

High pathogenicity avian influenza: Targeted active surveillance of wild birds to enable early detection of emerging disease threats

MIKETOMS — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 14:12:03 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Wade, D., Ashton-Butt, A., Scott, G., Reid, S., Coward, V., Hansen, R.D.E., Banyard, A.C. & Ward, A. Epidemiology & Infection 10.1017/S0950268822001856

Avian influenza (AI) is an important disease that has significant implications for animal and human health. High pathogenicity AI (HPAI) has emerged in consecutive seasons within the UK to cause the largest outbreaks recorded. Statutory measures to control outbreaks of AI virus (AIV) at poultry farms involve disposal of all birds on infected premises. Understanding of the timing of incursions into the UK could facilitate decisions on improved responses. During the autumnal migration and wintering period (autumn 2019- spring 2020), three active sampling approaches were trialled for wild bird species considered likely to be involved in captive AI outbreaks with retrospective laboratory testing undertaken to define the presence of AIV.

Faecal sampling of birds (n=594) caught during routine and responsive mist net sampling failed to detect AIV. Cloacal sampling of hunter-harvested waterfowl (n=146) detected seven positive samples from three species with the earliest detection on the 17th October 2020. Statutory sampling first detected AIV in wild and captive birds on 3rd November 2020. We conclude that hunter sourced sampling of waterfowl presents an opportunity to detect AI within the UK in advance of outbreaks on poultry farms and allow for early intervention measures to protect the national poultry flock.

With thanks from the authors to Spurn Bird Observatory, Filey Bird Observatory and their affiliates for their assistance and use of materials and voluntary effort throughout the project. DW was funded by a University of Hull PhD studentship. ACB, RDEH, SMR and VC were part funded by the UK Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the devolved Scottish and Welsh governments under grants SV3400, SV3032 and SE2213. Tackling the challenge of avian influenza

Declines in invertebrates and birds – could they be linked by climate change?

MIKETOMS — Thu, 15 Dec 2022 08:31:09 +0000

The Cuckoo cohort of 2024 takes flight!

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Pearce-Higgins, J.W. & Morris, R.K.A. Bird Study 10.1080/00063657.2022.2157373 Through case-studies that link changes in invertebrate populations to changes in bird populations, we suggest how climate change may increasingly impact bird populations through variation in their invertebrate prey. We assess whether invertebrate and bird population declines could be linked and suggest potentially emerging climate change impacts on wildlife. We draw on field experience and case-studies to illustrate how potential climate change impacts on invertebrates may cascade to affect bird populations and identify some key research gaps for urgent consideration. We highlight four invertebrate groups which may be sensitive to the impacts of climate change and that have the potential to impact bird populations that feed on them: soil invertebrates, foliar invertebrates, aerial insects and aquatic invertebrates. Our ability to understand these impacts is hampered by a lack of extensive long-term monitoring data for many invertebrates, and invertebrate data collected at scales that can be related to bird populations. We call for collaboration between entomologists and ornithologists, both non-vocational and professional, to support new empirical research and long-term monitoring initiatives to better link changes in insect populations and birds to inform future decision-making. This will be particularly important to understand likely future increasing climate change pressures on birds. We are grateful to Andy Musgrove for commenting on this manuscript prior to submission, and for helpful comments from James Bell, an anonymous reviewer and Associate Editor following submission. JPH’s contribution to the manuscript has been supported by individual donations to the British Trust for Ornithology. Breeding ground temperature rises, more than habitat change, are associated with spatially variable population trends in two species of migratory birdConservation interventions can benefit species impacted by climate changeClimate Change and the UK's Birds