The BirdTrends 2020 report is a one-stop shop for authoritative information about the population status of the common breeding birds of the wider UK countryside. The report is based on data gathered by the many thousands of volunteers who contribute to BTO-led surveys.

New BTO research shows how data collected by an army of volunteer citizen scientists have been used to map bats in unprecedented detail. The Norfolk Bat Survey began in 2013, and represents a novel way of collecting high-quality and extensive data sets on the distribution and activity of bat species. The Norfolk Bat Survey was started in 2013 by BTO ecologist Stuart Newson. Stuart and his colleagues have taken advantage of advances in technology to map bat distributions, and activity on a scale never before seen. The Survey relies on a network of ‘Bat Monitoring Centres’ situated throughout the county, from which members of the public borrow passive bat detectors and set them up locally for three days at a time. Between 2013 and 2015, this cost-effective survey method generated over 1.2 million bat recordings, making it one of the most extensive high-quality data sets for bats from anywhere in the world and engaging volunteers with citizen science in the process. The project has improved our understanding of spatial patterns of bat distribution and activity of all species, from the near-ubiquitous Common Pipistrelle to the locally scarce Leisler’s Bat, increasing the number of records from Norfolk from 10 to almost 300. The study also reveals how bat activity varies through the night. For example, Common and Soprano Pipstrelles are most active shortly after sunset, when airborne small insect prey availability is at its peak, while Brown Long-eared Bats, which take prey from foliage are active throughout the night. On a seasonal timescale, several species have been found to disperse after breeding into areas that they are not reported from earlier in the season. Such information has important conservation implications. Surveys of many species of bat are required before land is developed. The techniques used by the Norfolk Bat Survey present a better way of carrying out such work, with more informative results. As more years’ data are collected, the technique will also allow changes in bat populations to be monitored in a way that has not previously been possible. The Norfolk Bat Survey has already been expanded into neighbouring parts of East Anglia by popular demand. In 2016, a new survey will also begin in southern Scotland using the Norfolk Bat Survey model, and we are discussing with BCT how this approach may inform bat monitoring more widely. This is an example of BTO research having a huge impact on our knowledge of the ecology of previously poorly understood species.

Cocoa and coffee are among the most valuable tropical crops, with much of their production in areas of high biodiversity. Although this could suggest a conflict between agricultural expansion and biodiversity conservation, these crops are normally grown in shade plantations—a more biodiversity-friendly agroforestry system. Using São Tomé Island as a case study, we examined if shade plantation can benefit biodiversity by protecting extinction-prone island endemic species. We found that shade plantations held rich assemblages, even in comparison with forest: we estimated 30 bird and 74 tree species occurring in plantations compared to 24 bird and 108 tree species in forests. However, the structure of the assemblages was significantly different between ecosystems, with an average dissimilarity of 33.8 percent and 87.9 percent for birds and trees, respectively. Shade plantations had consistently less endemic species than the forest; we estimated a drop from 17 to 13 in birds and from 17 to 3 in trees. We also found that despite marked differences in the response of bird species to the vegetation characteristics of shade plantations, there was a strong positive link between aboveground tree biomass and endemic species richness and abundance. These results show that shade plantations hold assemblages impoverished in endemic species, but that management can improve their value for the conservation of these species. Finally, we suggest that biodiversity-friendly certification and carbon markets are used to implement and guarantee the long-term economical sustainability of practices that favor the endemic species in São Tomé's shade plantations.

This is the first edition of the Northern Ireland Seabird Report, covering 2013, a report we plan to publish annually. This report is the published outcome of the work of the BTO Seabird Co-ordinator, appointed in February 2013, and the activities of the evolving NI Seabird Network of volunteers, and organisations such as National Trust, Ulster Wildlife and RSPB that have provided data for 2013 and previous years. The Co-ordinator, the Network and this report are, in part, a response to the huge increase in our society’s interest in the marine environment. Legislatively there is the EU’s Marine Strategic Framework Directive (MSFD), and the local instrument that transposes the MSFD regulations, the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013. This includes powers to designate Marine Conservation Zones as part of a coherent MPA (Marine Protected Area) network. The implied spatial planning and designations require high quality marine biodiversity data of various types, including for birds. Monitoring, and any further designations, of our SPA (Special Protected Area) network also require high quality bird data. Added to this is a hugely increased interest in offshore commercial development, particularly energy related developments. There is a large offshore wind farm proposed east of the Lecale coast, two tidal energy proposals off the northeast Antrim coast, and proposals to investigate oil and gas resources in Belfast Lough, Larne Lough and near Rathlin. Two energy storage proposals near Larne just add to this mix of proposed marine developments. Finally, there is our increasing societal awareness of climate change and the impacts it may have: increasing seawater temperatures, changing acidity, increased storminess and thus turbidity, and many other associated changes. The work of the Northern Ireland Seabird Network in gathering robust seabird population data is a vital component in this context. The data in this report, and from future surveying, will underpin marine conservation policy-making and action planning in Northern Ireland.

The impacts of projected climate change on the populations and distributions of species pose a challenge for conservationists. In response scientists and policy makers have proposed a number of management strategies to try and enable species to persist in a changing climate. However there is limited evidence to support these management interventions, making it difficult for conservationists to decide on the most appropriate action to take for different circumstances. New research just published by the BTO, in collaboration with CEH and Natural England, has used long-term monitoring data for woodland birds to support the prediction that habitat attributes (woodland patch isolation and area of woodland at the site and at the wider landscape scale) may influence the ability of some species to withstand weather-mediated population declines. Results suggest that these effects were most apparent among generalist woodland species, such as Bullfinch and Robin. However several specialist woodland species, like Nuthatch and Willow Tit, were also more likely to increase following population decline where there was more woodland at the site and in the wider landscape. While management is unlikely to provide a universal benefit to all woodland species, landscape-scale conservation initiatives that maximize woodland patch size and minimize patch isolation may allow the populations of some woodland bird species to be more resilient to climate change.