BTO Research Reports

BTO Research Reports

BTO Research Reports are scientific papers that have been self-published by the BTO. The following is a full list of the published BTO research reports, which includes BBS reports, Waterbirds in the UK (WeBS) reports and SMP reports. Most are free to download, and links to Abstracts are included where possible.

Numbers missing from the list are those allocated but which were never produced or which have not been published. BTO recognises that, particularly in respect of commercially sensitive cases, a period of confidentiality is appropriate for some projects. However, in the interests of scientific development and dissemination of information, we encourage clients to permit publication as soon as it is reasonable to do so.

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Report on the South Colchester Nightingale Survey 2025

Author:

Published: 2026

This report presents the results of the Nightingale Luscinia megarhynchos survey carried out in South Colchester, Essex, during spring 2025. The survey focused on coverage of habitat at Colchester Barracks and Middlewick, known to support substantial numbers of breeding Nightingales and other fauna and flora of high conservation importance. Plans for development had been proposed, which would likely cause direct and indirect impacts upon these species.

02.06.26

BTO Research Reports

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Report on Danbury Nightingale Survey 2025

Author:

Published: 2026

This report presents the results of the Nightingale Luscinia megaryhnchos survey carried out in Danbury, Essex, during spring 2025. The national population has shown a slight decline since 2012. However, there are indications that the distribution has become more clumped, with some localised sites seeing large increases over the same period — as is the case for Danbury. This highlights concentrated populations of birds that are more significant nationally and from a conservation and protection perspective.

02.06.26

BTO Research Reports

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Trialling farmer wader counts and bioacoustics to aid agri-environment scheme evaluation

Author:

Published: 2026

The primary tool by which wader conservation is delivered in farmed landscapes is agri-environment schemes, whereby payments incentivise land managers to conduct beneficial management for species or habitats. Assessments of the effectiveness of such schemes have been based on infrequent, large-scale surveys which do not produce landscape- or intervention-specific evidence to facilitate local adaptations to the design of agri-environment schemes. This report details work carried out at 10 participating farms in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, where we trialled two methods that could help to evaluate the effectiveness of scheme measures at regional scales.

27.03.26

BTO Research Reports

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Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country: baselining for landscape recovery using multi-taxa passive acoustic monitoring

Author:

Published: 2026

Connecting Constable and Gainsborough Country is a DEFRA-funded Landscape Recovery project. This report describes the use of passive acoustic monitoring to assess the status and distribution of birds, bats, terrestrial small mammals, and bush-crickets across the Stour, Brett, and Box valleys in south Suffolk. The project supports habitat restoration and woodland connectivity, with a focus on rare or declining species of conservation concern, including the Hazel Dormouse, informed by robust monitoring.

25.03.26

BTO Research Reports

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