Every year, volunteers across the UK take part in the BTO/RSPB/JNCC Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), recording breeding birds in randomly selected 1-km squares (stratified regionally by observer availability) to robustly monitor population trends of some UK bird species. However, the chances of randomly selected squares containing rarer bird species and the habitats of interest that only cover a small proportion of the landscape are low, limiting our ability to monitor population changes. The work reported here examines options for increasing coverage of rare species and of assemblages occupying certain habitats of interest within the BBS framework, by including additional strata based on habitat type. It also assesses the benefits and risks of including an additional stratum based on accessibility to increase volunteer uptake in large regions with low observer density and many inaccessible areas. Volunteer recruitment is often difficult in these regions because randomly selected unmonitored BBS squares may require long drives, difficult walks and over-night camping.

Guests of Summer provides a fascinating insight into the lives of one of our most enigmatic and enchanting small birds - the House Martin. The story unfolds in a small Dutch village where the author, Theunis Piersma, lives and looks at the historic and contemporary connectedness of lives, both of birds and people. Intrigued by the House Martins nesting on his house, Piersma starts to explore the lives of these wonderful summer visitors, weaving in a tapestry than connects Anglo-Saxon migrations, Shakespeare's writings, political upheaval in the Congo, climate change and the big and frightening downsides of ongoing agricultural intensification. He does this using our insectivores, the martins, swallows and swifts, as the most inspiring of 'canaries' in the global coal mine.

Data collected by volunteer citizen scientists have been used to show how the timing of bird migration to and from the UK has changed since the 1960s. The spring arrival dates for 11 of 14 common migrants have got significantly earlier, with six species, including Swallow, House Martin and Chiffchaff, coming back to breed more than 10 days earlier than they used to. Species that advanced their timing of arrival also showed the most positive trends in abundance over this period. BTO ecologists, led by Stuart Newson, compared data from the Inland observation points summary survey, which ran from 1962–1966, with information collected from 2002 to 2011 via Migration Watch and BirdTrack. The change in spring arrival across species equated to an advance of 0.22 days per year on average. In addition to the early arrival, four species were found to depart for their wintering grounds significantly later than previously. As a consequence of earlier arrival and for some species later departure, nine of 14 species spent significantly longer in the UK in the 2000s than in the 1960s. These changes in bird migration are likely to be a response to warming on the birds’ UK breeding grounds. The extended stays in the UK may have benefitted some species in allowing birds to lay more than one clutch, when they previously would not have had time to attempt to raise an extra brood because conditions were not suitable. Studies such as this are important in understanding how birds can adapt to climate change, and the effect of their response to their population dynamics at a time when many species are in decline and effective conservation measures are being sought.

The purpose of this work was to develop a method for analysing digital aerial ornithology survey data, to derive species-specific flight heights. The focus of this work has been to develop an approach to analysis, rather than analysing a comprehensive dataset to derive generic flight height values. Although the project has been successful in developing such an approach to analysis, the BTO and Steering Group for the work emphasises that the values presented in this report are not intended to be used to inform assessments. Any party undertaking an ornithological collision risk assessment should seek advice from the relevant regulators and statutory nature conservation bodies on appropriate flight height values and avoidance rates to use. This report does not constitute such statutory advice.