The BTO's Danger List:
new alerts from major report

"British birds put on the danger list" - Evening Standard, 27 January 1998

"Some UK birds 'face extinction'" - The Scotsman, 28 January 1998

"'Common' birds in danger" - The Guardian, 28 January 1998

These were just some of the headlines that greeted the publication of the first report of the BTO's Integrated Population Monitoring Programme in 1997. The second report made as many waves because new species were added to the BTO's Alert List and the situation for other species, already on the list, had worsened.

The 169 page report, called Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status (1972-1996) is a truly integrated affair, bringing together information on the trends in population size, breeding performance and survival for 106 species. It draws on information from the Common Birds Census, Waterways Bird Survey, Breeding Bird Survey, Heronries Census, Nest Record Scheme, Constant Effort Sites Scheme and Ringing Scheme.

The BTO has produced the report under the BTO/Joint Nature Conservation Committee Partnership agreement and it is designed to be a ready reference for conservationists working at the sharp end of conservation. It will be widely distributed throughout English Nature, Countryside Council for Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Environment and Heritage Service in Northern Ireland and RSPB. So now everybody within bird conservation will have the best and most up-to-date facts about breeding birds in our countryside. Conservation needs facts and BTO members and staff provide them!

So what are the major results? Well, 20 species are now the subject of "High BTO Alerts" because of severe population declines (greater than 50% over the past 25 years) and 20 species are the subject of "Medium BTO Alerts" because of declines greater than 25% over the past 25 years, or because of statistically significant declines in breeding performance or survival (see Table 1).

New and worrying trends have occurred for a number of species:

Yellowhammer is the third bunting to have declined by more than 50% (it has declined by 60%). It joins Reed and Corn Buntings on the Alert List, also species of farmland seed-eaters for which there is considerable conservation concern.

Goldcrest has also declined in population size by more than 50%. This may seem surprising but the new analysis shows that it has not bounced back in the 1990s in the way that Wren and Long- tailed Tit have after a series of cold winters in the 1980s.

Mistle Thrush now warrants being included on the Amber list because its population size has declined by 34%. It is the third thrush species to show such a decline and research on Song Thrush and Blackbird may throw light on its population decline.

Willow Tit is currently on the Amber List of Birds of Conservation Concern, but it has now declined by 50% which would effectively push it up to the Red List, if the list was being drawn up again today. The reasons for its decline are unclear but may be linked to drainage of their preferred damp woodlands and to drier summers. Other woodland species warranting particular concern are Tree Pipit, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker and Redpoll.

Snipe and Redshank, too, are currently Amber-listed but their populations on CBC plots have collapsed over the past 25 years and, although the CBC plots may not adequately represent their distributions, the severity of the CBC declines indicates that they deserve urgent conservation attention.

Two nocturnal or crepuscular species, Woodcock and Grasshopper Warbler, and one urban species, House Sparrow, show worrying declines, although it must be noted that the CBC is a suboptimal scheme for monitoring such species. However, as there are no other sources of information on these species, conservationists must take note.

Overall, the number of species showing a long-term trend of decline in population size approximately equals the number showing increases. However, the declines are particularly prevalent among seed-eating species, among farmland species and among grassland or marshland species. Of species showing significant long-term trends in breeding performance, the majority (78%) show an improvement over time. However, declines in breeding performance are again prevalent among seed-eating species, among those associated with heathland, bog or upland habitats and those associated with waterbodies or coastal habitats.

The report will be produced regularly, at approximately three-yearly intervals. Its importance is likely to grow and is a major tribute to the 700,000 hours of effort that we guess-timate BTO volunteers put into the surveys each year.

(Copies of this report can be obtained for £15 (inc. p&p) from Sam Rider at BTO HQ. The Report is called: Breeding Birds in the Wider Countryside: their conservation status (1972-1996) by H.Q.P. Crick, S.R. Baillie, D.E. Balmer, R.I. Bashford, L.P. Beaven, C. Dudley, D.E. Glue, R.D. Gregory, J.H. Marchant, W.J. Peach & A.M. Wilson. BTO Research Report No 198. BTO, Thetford.)

Table 1: BTO Alerts and population declines over 25 years

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