Press releases
Place your bets on where gulls might turn up in winter
March 2022
New research, led by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), has used state-of-the-art GPS tags to provide insights into the lives of Herring Gulls breeding in Scotland and northern England during the winter months...
Northern Ireland’s seabirds experience mixed fortunes: Rathlin’s cliffs are groaning with Guillemots but Fulmar are in free-fall.
March 2022
The latest report from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2021, charts the most recent ups and downs of country’s seabirds and it shows a mixed bag...
Swallows have started spending the winter in Britain instead of migrating 6,000 miles to South Africa, according to the British Trust for Ornithology.
March 2022
The change in behaviour is one of the most remarkable signs yet of the warming world being caused by climate change, according to the BTO’s Chief Executive, Juliet Vickery...
A burning question: how does timing of breeding of upland birds affect risk posed by moorland burning?
February 2022
There is considerable public interest in how our uplands are managed, one area of concern being about the potential for rotational burning of vegetation to impact on nesting birds...
First year of a four-year survey discovers five new species of bat for the Bailiwick of Guernsey
February 2022
The most extensive bat survey carried out by citizen scientists in the Bailiwick of Guernsey using remote automated recorders has found several new species of bat and a new species of bush-cricket for the islands of Guernsey, Alderney, Herm and Sark, as well as collecting almost three-quarters of a million sound recordings of bats, small terrestrial mammals, bush-crickets and audible moth species...
Was bird monitoring immune to COVID-19?
February 2022
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the UK just as birdwatchers were gearing up for the annual campaign to survey the UK’s breeding birds...
The BB/BTO Best Bird Book of the Year 2021
February 2022
British Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology announce the winner of the award for Best Bird Book of the Year 2021...
Volunteers provide vital new information on the UK's breeding Tawny Owls
February 2022
Thanks to the efforts of nearly 10,000 'citizen scientists' we now have a much greater understanding of the UK's breeding Tawny Owls, together with much-needed information on their calling behaviour, that will help future surveys of the species...
Extinct Chernobyl eagle back from the dead
January 2022
Rare Greater Spotted Eagles have returned to the Chernobyl area after going extinct before the accident...
Garden birds that head north for the winter
December 2021
Research, from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), in collaboration with Oxford University and Max Planck Institute, Germany, has uncovered the unusual migration of Blackcaps into UK gardens for the winter months...
A quiet Christmas? How Britain & Ireland’s breeding birds fared in 2021
December 2021
The latest results from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) report a poor year for many of our birds, largely due to a cooler and wetter spring than average...
The Martin Garner Spurn Young Birder of the Year
December 2021
Fifteen year-old Corin Woodhead, from Scotland, was named Martin Garner Spurn Young Birder of the Year in the senior category and ten year old Levi Gravett in the junior category, at the 2021 Spurn Migration Festival, ahead of four other young finalists (two in each category) and 15 young birders who entered this year's competition...
Hampshire Ornithologist receives recognition from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
December 2021
Tony Davis received the BTO’s Bernard Tucker Medal for his scientific contributions to the trust and British Ornithology...
Welsh Ornithologist receive national recognition for his work in Wales
December 2021
Tony Cross has been awarded the Jubilee Medal by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) in recognition of the scientific research he has carried out on some of Wale’s most iconic birds and for his devotion to the Trust...
Yorkshire Ornithologist receives recognition from the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
December 2021
Mike Archer, of Sheffield, received the BTO's Jubilee Medal for his contributions to British ornithology, which are many and varied...
Uncovering the movements of one of Europe’s rarest eagles
December 2021
One of Europe’s rarest birds of prey, the Greater Spotted Eagle, has been tracked by scientists to better understand its movements and the pressures it faces outside of the breeding season...
The Duke of Cambridge meets with British Trust for Ornithology’s young citizen scientists
December 2021
Meeting young citizen scientists, who collect data on the UK’s bird populations for the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), The Duke of Cambridge today learned of the huge benefits that participation in citizen science brings to young people...
West Midlands bird study group receive one of ornithology’s top awards.
November 2021
The West Midlands Ringing Group (WMRG) was awarded the Marsh Award for Innovative Ornithology by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) at a glittering ceremony at the Mall Gallery in London...
Britain’s best-loved birds could disappear from much of our coastline
November 2021
Britain’s Puffins, which are among the nation’s best-loved birds, could largely disappear as a result of climate change over the coming years, new research reveals...
Conservation work boosts UK’s rarest wetland birds
October 2021
New report shows that the fate of some of the UK’s rarest birds are improving, thanks to improved protection and conservation efforts Nine species of rare birds bred in their highest ever recorded numbers across the UK Amongst these, the cattle egret has been one of the fastest European birds to expand their range - and may be here to stay A new report published today shows that conservation work is helping to boost the populations of some of the rarest birds in the UK, Isle of Man and the Channel Islands...
BTO celebrates excellence in ornithology
October 2021
At a glittering awards ceremony held at the opening of the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA) Natural Eye exhibition in the Mall Galleries in London, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) gave out six awards to recognise the contribution the recipients have made to British ornithology...
Yorkshire birdwatchers receive top ornithology award
October 2021
Two Yorkshire birdwatchers have been honoured at the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) annual awards ceremony and received the prestigious Marsh Award for Local Ornithology at a glittering event held at the Mall Gallery in London...
Young Shropshire woman receives top ornithology award
October 2021
At 16 years old, Sian Mercer from Shropshire has been awarded the prestigious Marsh Award for Young Ornithologist by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)...
St Andrews statistician wins top ornithology award
October 2021
Dr Alison Johnston, based in St Andrews, has been awarded the prestigious Marsh Award for Ornithology by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) for the huge contribution in advancing avian science...
Dorset author wins top national award
October 2021
Dorset author, Dominic Couzens, has been awarded the prestigious Dilys Breese Medal by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) at an award ceremony held in the Mall Galleries, London...
Swiss Ornithologist receives prestigious international award
October 2021
Professor Lukas Jenni has been presented with the Marsh Award for International Ornithology by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) at a glittering ceremony at the Mall Gallery in London...
At 23 years and 11 months, it’s the oldest of its kind
September 2021
A ring fitted to a White-tailed Eagle nestling that fledged in the Highland region of Scotland in 1996 allowed the individual to be identified in the field as an adult bird in 2020, making it the oldest known bird of this species in in Britain and Ireland, according to the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) latest ringing report...
The simple act of looking out of your window can help scientific research.
September 2021
During the first lockdown in 2020, the British Trust for Ornithology’s (BTO) Garden BirdWatch (GBW) survey saw the number of participants double, from just over 10,000 to over 20,000 garden birdwatchers, with submissions of garden wildlife sightings up by around a third on 2019...
Artificial intelligence discovers rare bat
August 2021
A passive bat detector, left outside to automatically trigger and record bat calls as they fly over, set up in a garden in West Sussex as part of the Chichester Bat Recording Project, has recorded the social calls of the extremely rare Kuhl’s Pipistrelle...
Released, captive reared Curlews phone home
August 2021
Two Curlews fitted with GPS tags as part of a project to help boost numbers of the species in the East of England, are keeping scientists up to date with their movements using the mobile phone network...
