Survey results
Big Garden Bird Watch (RSPB)
The
2003 Big Garden Birdwatch (BGBW) counted an incredible four and a half
million birds over the course of the BGBW weekend in January 2003. The
starling has come out as the UK’s garden bird champion, although
numbers have declined greatly in recent years. Find out more about the
results for 2003, and keep your eyes peeled for the January 2004 survey
– we would like you to take part!
BirdTrack (BTO/RSPB/BWI)
BirdTrack
is a major new scheme, which developed out of Migration Watch, an Internet
project to study spring migration. This year-round bird recording scheme
is designed to collect large numbers of lists of birds. The focus of the
website is spring and autumn migration, seasonal movements, and the distribution
of scarce species. BirdTrack results are made available on the Internet
via BirdWeb.
Breeding Birds of the Wider Countryside (BTO/JNCC)
The
Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside is a ‘one-stop-shop’
for information about the populations of our common and widespread breeding
birds. With one page per species, you can easily find all the key information
about trends in population size and breeding performance over the period
since 1968 as measured by various national monitoring schemes. Many cross-species
summary tables are also included.
BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Shortest Day Survey (BTO)
The
BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Shortest Day Survey, run in conjunction with the
Today Programme on BBC
Radio 4, took place on the shortest day - 21st December and set out to
find out more about the order in which birds arrive at garden feeding
stations early in the morning.
Breeding Bird Survey (BTO/JNCC/RSPB)
Each
year the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey produces a report summarising
population changes and other results from the scheme. The most recent
reports give population changes for the UK as a whole, Scotland, Wales,
Northern Ireland, England and the nine English Government Office Regions.
BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch (BTO)
The
records collected by the many thousands of participants who take part
in the Garden BirdWatch survey helps build a national pattern of how bird
species change their use of gardens throughout the year and from one year
to the next. Collectively the Garden BirdWatch results can be used to
stimulate research into declining species and to inform conservationists
of action that needs to be taken.
Breeding Bird Atlases (BTO/SOC/IWC)
Maps
from the atlases of bird distribution in Britain and Ireland are now
available online. You can view the distribution of breeding bird species
in
1968-72 and 1988-91, plus changes in breeding distribution between these
two
periods. You can also view winter distributions in the early 1980s.
Big Bug Count (RSPB)
Many
birds depend on insects as a source of food, and lack of insects could
cause big problems for some species. The RSPB devised a simple way of
monitoring insect abundance by asking people to estimate the number of
splattered bugs on their car number plate after a journey. Thousands of
people took part using a standard recording method - find out what the
results tell us.
State of the UK's Birds 2003 (RSPB/WWT/BTO)
The
RSPB, BTO and WWT have just released "The State of the UK's Birds
2003". This is the fifth in a series of annual reports providing
an overview of the fortunes of wild birds in the United Kingdom. It draws
together the most recent data from a range of reliable sources up to 2003,
and presents trends for some species since 1970. The UK has one of the
best programmes of bird monitoring in the world, from familiar and common
species to rare and local breeders and winter visitors. This report summarises
the most important results from annual, periodically repeated and one-off
surveys.
Ring Reporting (BTO/JNCC)
Using
lightweight individually numbered rings we are able to follow a bird’s
movements, calculate their chances of survival and monitor their population
levels. The information on the movements of birds collected over nearly
one hundred years culminated recently in the publication of the Migration
Atlas, the first book to comprehensively document our knowledge of the
movements of British and Irish populations.
Sparrow Watch 2003 (RSPB)
The
results of the RSPB’s first UK Sparrowatch survey are now available
here on our website. We had a fantastic response, with around 250,000
of you taking part. Find out how the survey went, the results of this
public survey, and what you can do to help the house sparrow.
Breeding Waders of Wet Meadows (BTO/RSPB/EN/DEFRA)
This
joint survey aimed to estimate the sizes of the populations of breeding
waders on lowland grassland sites in England and Wales in 2002, and to
assess changes since the previous survey in 1980-83 (mostly 1982).
The Population Status of Birds in the UK 2002-2007
The
population status of birds in the UK has recently been assessed in a collaborative
review led by the RSPB and involving the UK’s leading governmental
and non-governmental conservation organisations.
Find out how many species are considered under threat, and which ones
have made positive steps to recovery between 2002 and 2007.
Winter Farmland Bird Survey (BTO/JNCC)
Farmland
of one kind or another accounts for most of the lowlands of Britain and
supports large numbers of birds. During the winter months farmland habitats,
and the food they provide, are important to the survival of many farmland
bird species, many of conservation concern. This national survey, run
in partnership with the Joint Nature Conservancy Committee and carried
out over three winters (1999/2000 – 2001/2002) presents results
through an easy to use species selection menu and shows distribution maps,
seasonal occurrence graphs and habitat use pie charts.
Important Bird Areas in the UK 2000 (RSPB/BirdLife)
The
most important sites for birds are known as Important Bird Areas (IBAs).
The IBA Programme of BirdLife International is a worldwide initiative
aimed at identifying and protecting a network of sites, critical for the
conservation of the world's birds.
These sites are selected because of the bird numbers and species complements
they hold. IBAs are particularly important for species that congregate
in large numbers, such as wintering and passage waterbirds and breeding
seabirds.
Golden Eagle Survey (RSPB/SNH/SRSG)
A
UK-wide survey of golden eagles was conducted in 2003, 11 years after
the last, as a collaboration between the RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage
and Scottish Raptor Study Groups. Over 670 home ranges were surveyed,
by far the most complete coverage achieved in an eagle survey.
Peregrine Survey (BTO, EHS, RSG and SOC)
Peregrines
are iconic birds of UK's wild places. They are also iconic of one of the
greatest conservation success stories: the eradication of organochlorine
pesticides, such as DDT, from use in the UK and elsewhere. The 10-yearly
national censuses in the UK first identified the problems in the 1960s
and have since charted the species' dramatic recovery. The latest results
for the 2002 survey show further gains in some areas, but worrying declines
in others.
Nightingale Survey (BTO)
Everyone
knows that the Nightingale is one of the UK’s best songsters but
not everyone is aware that in recent years their numbers have been in
decline in many parts of its breeding range. In 1999 BTO volunteers undertook
a full survey and the results show a continuing decline of the population
in southern and southwestern counties, though in some eastern regions
they faired much better.