Abstract from BTO Research Report No 384:

Chamberlain, D., Gough, S., Vaughan, H., Appleton, G., Freeman S., Toms, M., Vickery, J. & Noble, D. (2004)

The London Bird Report (A report to The Bridge House Estates Trust)

1. Relatively little is known about the ecology of birds in cities and suburbs of the UK. However, following recent declines in urban populations of several species, notably House Sparrow and Starling, the study of urban birds is now a major conservation issue. Parks and gardens are the main contributors to urban biodiversity, and an understanding of the factors that make these habitats more attractive to birds would both greatly enhance our ability to improve urban habitats for wildlife and add to our knowledge of this generally neglected area of ecology.

2. The distributions and population trends for several species are known reasonably well in Greater London and there are several studies that have considered the bird communities of London’s green spaces. Whilst our knowledge of London’s bird populations is good, we know relatively little about the factors that actually determine the presence and abundance of species within London’s parks, private gardens and other green spaces. A thorough assessment of habitat associations is needed if we are to improve the bird diversity of these green spaces. This can be achieved through analysis of bird data in conjunction with spatially referenced habitat data, the ultimate aim being the development of management recommendations.

3. The British Trust for Ornithology’s London Bird Project was largely funded by the Bridge House Trust, the grant giving arm of the Corporation of London, to assess the value of the city’s green spaces (including private gardens) for birds and to suggest ways of managing them for the benefit of birds. The project had four main aims: (i) to determine the bird species richness and density of individual species in a large sample of public green spaces; (ii) to relate these measures to habitat variables in both summer and winter, in order to understand how habitat type, size and structure affect bird communities in urban green spaces; (iii) to identify the broad composition of urban bird communities and to determine how the breeding distributions of individual species relate to large-scale distribution of habitat throughout the London area; (iv) to detect patterns in the usage of gardens by birds throughout the year with respect to garden habitat.

4. The aims were achieved using three data sources, one from a novel survey and two from existing long-term monitoring schemes run by the BTO. A survey of public green spaces was carried out from summer 2002 to winter 2003/04 which counted every individual bird located within each site. Habitat data were also collected so bird density could be related to habitat availability. Data for a wider range of habitats is collected in the BTO/ JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS). BBS data were analysed with respect to broad-scale habitat data within Greater London. The BTO/CJ Wildbird Foods Garden BirdWatch (GBW) is a weekly volunteer survey that records presence/absence of selected species in gardens throughout the year. Trends over time and habitat associations of gardens birds within Greater London were investigated using these data.

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