Quick links:
South West Biodiversity Implementation Plan
Why
farmland birds have declined
Why woodland birds have declined
Key
South West trends
Key national trends
Big Garden Bird Watch 2005 results
European bird trends
Action to halt declines
Bird health
South West Regional Biodiversity
Partnership Headline indicators of sustainable development in the UK
Regional quality of life counts: 2003 - wildlife
Biodiversity
Key wildlife species - otters
Water voles
Mammal populations
Useful websites
Key
facts about wildlife: birds (Defra) 2003 statistical release on bird populations Wild
bird indicators for the four UK countries and for the English regions:
1994 – 2002
Production
of Breeding Bird Survey - based Regional Indicators for Wild Bird Populations:
1994-2002
BirdLife
International European bird data search
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
(RSPB)
British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Bird web British garden birds |
Key species trends
Birds
 Birds are
considered to be a good indicator of the broad state of wildlife and
countryside because they inhabit a wide range of habitats and tend
to be near the top of the food chain.
The UK index of wild bird populations
is one of the Government’s 15 headline indicators for sustainable
development in the UK.
This indicator looks in detail at:
This indicator is generated by combining
the trends of 106 widespread breeding bird species across the UK, for
which population data is collected annually or periodically.
1970 is taken as the base year. However, it should not be assumed that
this represents the ideal wild bird population - the index is intended
to
show how bird
populations have been changing
over time. For example, if an index rises to 200 then, on average,
populations of species in that indicator have doubled; if it falls
to 50 then they have halved on average.
Farmland birds - why have farmland bird populations declined?
Birds are particularly susceptible to changes in both arable and livestock
farming, such as the intensification of farming.
Increasingly intensive farming over the last 30 years (encouraged by
the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)) has been directly linked to declines
in farmland bird population. A number of related factors include:
- Changing farming practices, including the growth of new crop varieties
that can grow through the winter months and resulting
in the
loss of over-winter stubble. This stubble used to provide vast areas
of land on which
birds, such as corn buntings, skylarks and grey partridges, could forage
during the winter months.
- Loss of habitat diversity and quality caused by increasing agricultural
specialisation
- Loss of hedgerows and other uncropped habitats
- Use of different pesticides
- Increasingly Intensive, specialised livestock farming systems have
replaced the more extensive mixed farms - resulting in more farmers
cutting for silage earlier in the year rather than leaving for hay,
draining and reseeding of wet grassland and increased pressure from
over-grazing.
The RSPB website provides more information about the impacts of changes
in arable and livestock farming
on farmland birds.
Woodland birds - why have woodland bird populations declined?
Woodland birds have been affected by the increasing loss
of woodland and hedgerows. Remaining woodland tends to be patchy and
smaller, which may disrupt dispersal between woodlands and alter population
dynamics. Extensive research is underway to try and find the causes of
the declines in woodland birds.
Key South
West trends
According to the Defra report Production
of Breeding Bird Survey - based Regional Indicators for Wild Bird Populations:
1994-2002 (BTO, RSPB for Defra), the wild bird indicator for the
South West showed little change between 1994 and 2002 (+2%). However, some
individual species did not follow this trend:
Woodland species:
Although little change in the total population of woodland birds
occurred between 1994 and 2002, this varied between species. Most
did show relatively little change
(<±10%),
however the following species showed significant changes
in population. However, species such as the Garden Warbler fared
well.
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Woodland species increasing 1994 - 2002
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Woodland species declining 1994 - 2002
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Garden Warbler (+ 54%)
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Willow Warbler (-50%)
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Greater Spotted Woodpecker (+48%)
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Lesser Whitethroat (-38%)
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Nuthatch (+38%)
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Sparrowhawk (-37%)
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Coal Tit (+37%)
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Farmland species:
In the South West, the index of farmland bird populations showed
little change, decreasing by 9% between 1994 and 2002, similar
to the national trend. Only two of the fourteen individual farmland
bird species included in the index showed major decreases: |
Farmland species increasing
1994 - 2002
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Farmland species declining
1994 - 2002
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Whitethroat (+48%)
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Lapwing (-71%)
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Greenfinch (+32%)
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Kestrel (-51%)
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Other native birds:
In the South West, the index of all bird populations, including
farmland and woodland species, showed little change between 1994
and 2002, much in line with the national trend. Twenty-eight of the sixty individual
bird species included in the index increased. |
Other native species increasing 1994 -
2002
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Other native species declining 1994 -
2002
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Raven (+158%)
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Cuckoo (-68%)
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Sedge Warbler (+117%)
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Mallard (+108%)
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All bird species:
47% of all species showed an increase over the Breeding Bird Survey
period whilst 25% of all species experienced large declines. |
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Key national
and regional trends in bird populations The overall population
of wild birds in the UK has risen by 7% over the last ten years. Major
winners include relatively scarce breeding birds with mainly southern
distributions, such as woodlark, dartford warbler and cetti's warbler,
that may be benefiting from warmer winters, and species such as woodpigeon
and jackdaw, which may be benefiting from current agricultural practices.
Key trends in British breeding birds since 1970
Nationally,
the overall population of British breeding birds has increased
since 1970 (as shown by the blue line in the graph). However however
both farmland (green line) and woodland birds (red line) have
declined significantly.
See graph below. Key trends include:
- Farmland birds have suffered the greatest population losses,
declining by 42% between 1970 and 2002. However, the rate of
decline has slowed since the mid 1990s and has shown signs
of recovery with a slight increase between 2002 and 2003.
- Woodland birds declined by 15% between 1970 and 2002
and continued to decline between 2000 and 2002. However, between
2002 and 2003 woodland birds started to show signs of
recovery. According to the RSPB,
species showing the most significant declines in the
UK include lesser spotted woodpeckers,
tree pipits, spotted flycatchers and willow tits.
- The total number of British breeding birds has increased
by 10% since 1970 and remained relatively stable since the
early 1980s. However, between 2000 and 2002 populations declined
slightly (by 1.4%).
Source: (RSPB and Defra,
2004). |
Populations of wild birds: 1970 - 2003
 (click
to enlarge)
Source: RSPB, BTO, Defra 2003 (data available from Defra) |
Changing populations of British breeding birds according to habitat
In terms of changing bird populations according to habitat, the
greatest losses have occurred in farmland, woodland and sea birds.
However, there have also been significant increases in opportunist
species, such as jackdaw.
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Changes in geographical distribution and population of bird
species by habitat type between 1968-72 and 1988-91
 (click
to enlarge)
Source: Defra (2004) |
Key farmland bird findings 1994 - 2003:
There are encouraging signs of recovery from some of the farmland
species that underwent large declines since the 1970s, such as
goldfinch, but this is not true for all farmland species. Farmland
generalists such as rook have done well, while farmland specialists
(those that breed mainly or solely on farmland) have declined
by 60% since 1970, with tree sparrow and corn bunting faring
particularly badly.
Key woodland bird findings 1994 - 2003:
Farmland bird populations declined by almost half between 1977
and 1993, and over the last ten years the indicator has remained
at a low level of about 60% of its 1970 value.
The largest increase was in the North East, where woodland bird
populations rose by 31%. There were also increases of 10% or
more in Yorkshire and the Humber, East and West Midlands and
the North West. This compares with an overall England decline
of 6% over the same time period.
Between 2000 and 2003, woodland specialists (those that breed
mainly or solely in woodland), such as Tree Pipit, Spotted Flycatcher
and Willow Warbler, have suffered the greatest declines. However,
other woodland specialists such as Great Spotted and Green Woodpeckers
have been doing well, while Chiffchaff is showing signs of recovery.
Percentage change in wild bird indicators by region 1994 – 2002
 (click
to enlarge)
Source: RSPB, Defra, British Trust for Ornithology (2003)
Changes in bird species population - all species, woodland
and farmland birds - South West in comparison to England 1970
- 2000
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Number of species
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Increasing
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Little change
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Declining
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Total
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England
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South West
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England
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South West
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England
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South West
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England
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South West
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All species
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Woodland species
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Farmland species
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Source: RSPB, BTO, Defra 2003 (data available from Regional
Quality of Life Counts 2003 - Wildlife) |
Other bird species
Birds which prefer habitats other than farmland and woodland
have generally increased. Coastal bird populations, for
example,
have increased by almost 40% since 1970 and by around 20% since
1985 (the year of the last complete census). Guillemot and Gannet
have fared particularly well, with only Herring Gull and Little
Tern showing a decline since 1970. |
Big Garden Bird Watch 2005 results
The Big Garden Bird Watch is an initiative which asks people to record
birds in their gardens for one hour on a selected day of the year.
The information that this gathers helps to ighlight population trends
over time and informs the RSPB of priorities
for conservation work.
Nearly 400,000 people from across the UK spent an hour counting the
birds in their gardens on the 29th - 30th January 2005 - recording
over 6 million birds. The resulting information gathered helps to highlight
important trends and changes in garden bird populations including:
- With an average of 4.56 house sparrows seen per garden in 2005
(54%) less compared with the average of 10 in 1979), population numbers
have remained relatively stable over recent years
- Until 2003, the starling was the most common garden bird Since
then, starling populations have continued to decline, with numbers
per garden down by almost 25% of those recorded in the rist Big Garden
Bird Watch survey
- Numbers of song thrush are giving cause for concern. For the first
time this red-listed species dropped out of the top 20 garden birds
- Blackbirds were the most widespread species (recorded in 92% of
all gardens), with house sparrows and starlings found in 68% and
53% respectively. Blue, great and long-tailed tits all continue to
prosper - and since over 70% of all gardens surveyed providing peanuts
this is hardly surprising!
Top 20 garden birds
Within the top 20 recorded garden birds, there was minimal change:
- House sparrow
- Starling
- Blue tit
- Blackbird
- Greenfinch
- Chaffinch
- Collared dove
- Wood pigeon
- Great tit
- Robin
- Dunnock
- Magpie
- Long-tailed tit
- Goldfinch
- Coal tit
- Jackdaw
- Carrion crows
- Wren
- Rook
- Feral pigeon
European
bird trends
The European Union has promised to halt the loss of wildlife in Europe
by 2010.
European birds are protected by the EU Birds Directive (1979), which
addresses the conservation of all wild birds throughout the European
Union, including marine areas, and covers their protection, management,
control and exploitation.
It applies to the birds, their eggs, nests and habitats. It places a
broad requirement on Member States to take necessary measures to maintain
the populations of all wild birds at levels determined by ecological,
scientific and cultural needs.
More information about the EU Birds Directive, including background
information and UK action, is available from the RSPB.
Status of European birds
 According
to Birds
in the European Union: a status assessment, a new in-depth report
published by BirdLife International (2004), 226 species of birds (43%
of all those occurring regularly in Europe) are at risk from intensive
agriculture or changes in climate.
Species in decline
Many species are declining, rare or localised, whilst populations of
others remain heavily depleted following huge declines during
the 1970s and 1980s. At present rates of decline, it is expected that
some species may disappear from parts of Europe in the very near future
- including the Mediterranean shearwater (a seabird from the Balearic
Islands) and the Azores bullfinch (living only on one small island in
the Atlantic).
In terms of UK birds, it is the first time that species such as the
house sparrow, snipe, starling, lapwing and corn bunting have been listed
as birds of conservation concern in Europe. Other European birds
of concern in decline in the UK include:
- Wading birds, including snipe, curlews and lapwings. These are declining
rapidly in the UK, largely because of drainage of lowland river valleys
and habitat degradation
- Migratory birds nesting in the UK and wintering in sub-Saharan Africa,
including wood warblers, wheatear and house martins
- Woodland birds, including the marsh tits
- Farmland birds, including corn buntings, tree sparrows and linnets
- Urban birds such as house sparrows and starlings.
Species in recovery
Fourteen bird species have shown signs of recovery due to improved
protection and conservation efforts. Species such as the Audouin's gull,
the Eurasian griffon vulture and the white-tailed eagle, have recovered
well from severe population declines.
UK species such as the avocet, peregrine falcon, red kites and stone-curlew
are recovering in the UK, although may still declining across much of
their European range.
European bird data
Data on key European bird species is available from BirdLife
International, searches can be tailored according to family, genus,
species, common name, country or status.
Action to decline the loss of birds
The Government’s objective is to reverse the long-term decline
in populations of farmland and woodland birds. Specifically, the strategy
aims to halt or reverse declines in 26 priority bird species identified
in the UK Biodiversity
Action Plan (BAP) by 2008. Eleven of these species
are farmland or woodland birds included in this indicator, including
the skylark, corn bunting, song thrush and bullfinch.
Bird health
Defra have launched a new website to provide information about farm,
domestic and wild animal health. The UK
Veterinary Surveillance website contains key information about diseases
in birds, including:
- Commercially bred birds (chicken, turkey, ducks and geese)
- Gamebirds (including grouse, partridges and pheasants)
- Common bird diseases
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