This report was commissioned by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency to scope the evidence available on the movements and spatial distributions of certain marine birds in and around Northern Ireland waters, in order to identify knowledge gaps. The focus is on 37 marine birds found offshore, away from the coastline, that utilise the Celtic Seas (OSPAR Region III) and Ireland Exclusive Economic Zone marine environments. Metadata from 10 different sources (including directly contacting researchers, a literature review and accessing several archived datasets) are used.

This report investigates the efficacy of methods for producing population trends from BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey data for six breeding wader species in the UK. It examines the effects of increasing the count threshold on the population trends for these six species, and also explores the effects of different geographic exclusion rules on the population trend of Golden Plover. Overall, it aims to test for any potential biases in the current trends, and in doing so, determines whether we can create a better approach which provides the most robust data for wader conservation moving forwards.

This report reviews the suitability of methods used to calculate the scale of Artificial Nest Structures (ANS) provided as compensation measures for Kittiwake mortality at offshore wind farms in English waters, due to turbine collision only. This report was revised in October 2025 and republished on 30-10-2025, correcting an error in Table 5. The recalculated compensation populations in the original report did not match the underlying fecundity values in the column headers. In addition, a link to helpful computer code was added to Appendix 3 (see below).

As part of the suite of work for the BTO Northern Ireland Science Plan 2023–2028 for DAERA/NIEA, BTO was asked to provide an analysis and associated report to investigate climate change related change in seabird populations in and around Northern Ireland. In this report, we update previously estimated projections of change in seabird populations (Davies et al. 2023) based on newly available datasets, including data from Seabirds Count and updated NEMO and C3S oceanographic data. We also discuss the reliability of existing Interreg VA/MarPAMM projected changes, and the likely extent to which climate change is already driving alterations to seabird abundance. Overall, the population of seabirds in the Interreg VA/MarPAMM region is predicted to decline in presence and abundance by 2050 under climate change.

The report provides a single, comprehensive source of information on the current status and distribution of waterbirds in the UK for those interested in the conservation of the populations of these species and the wetland sites they use. Key stories from this report include more updates on avian influenza affecting migratory Barnacle Goose and Mute Swan, as well as a focus on the latest WeBS Alerts, looking at how wintering waterbirds are doing in protected areas. View the press release for this report

These are the main schemes for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s widespread breeding birds, providing an important indicator of the health of the countryside. The results are published annually as Official Statistics and used widely by Defra and the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs, e.g. Natural England and NatureScot) to set priorities and to inform conservation action, and as the evidence base against which the UK’s biodiversity targets are measured. BBS data are also routinely used in research, with recent examples including peer-reviewed papers published in 2022 and 2024 which measured the efficacy of the UK’s network of protected areas in supporting wildlife. The 2024 Breeding Bird Survey Report highlights the continuing decline of some farmland species and more recent declines of woodland birds, at least in England. In Scotland, there is a focus on upland birds, where an all-species indicator using BBS data shows a 20% decline since 1994. In Wales, there are mixed fortunes, with species like House Sparrow bucking the downward trend seen in England, whilst Curlew are in severe decline, as they are elsewhere in the UK. Some songbirds in Northern Ireland, such as Blackbird are doing comparatively well compared to the wider UK trend. We thank nearly 3,000 skilled and dedicated volunteers who give their time to BBS and WBBS and make the monitoring of the UK’s breeding birds possible. Download the 2024 report Or, browse all editions of the Breeding Bird Survey Report >

This report assesses the capability of a Spoor AI camera system with both mono-vision (single-camera) and stereo-vision capabilities for bird monitoring deployed at the European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre in Aberdeen Bay using both theoretical considerations and onshore and offshore field trials.