A new study involving BTO has shown how birds, insects and spiders have used nature reserves and areas protected for wildlife to expand northwards in response to climate change and other factors. This work combined information from volunteer recording and national monitoring, including data from BTO surveys, to provide crucial evidence for the importance of protected areas for more than 250 species. Using data from the 1970s onwards, the researchers showed that the species surveyed disproportionately colonised protected areas in their northward expansion, even though these sites were not designated with those species in mind. Protected areas were approximately four times more likely to be colonised than would be expected given their availability in the wider countryside. Three key vulnerable bird species, the Bittern, Woodlark and Dartford Warbler were significantly more likely to be associated with protected areas in newly colonised areas than would be predicted by chance alone. Many species will need to shift their distribution in order to respond and adapt to climate change; those that cannot might struggle to survive. This study underlines the vital long-term importance of protected areas in facilitating this process and therefore in conserving biodiversity as a whole.

New collaborative research between the Zoological Society for London, University of Oxford, BTO, and RSPB, has used information collected by BTO Garden BirdWatch volunteers to document the emergence and spread of a severe form of avian pox virus in Paridae species, especially Great Tits. The disease, which typically leads to unsightly growths on a bird’s head, was first reported in British tits in Sussex in 2006, and has spread north and westwards since. Although birds can recover from the pox virus, the lesions it causes may impair their vision and ability to feed, as well as leaving them susceptible to secondary infections and predation. Avian pox has been endemic in other British garden birds, including Dunnocks and Blackbirds, since the 1950s. However, the disease in tits is a different strain, causing more serious symptoms. Its transmission also appears to be independent from that in non-Paridae. In all species, avian pox is thought to be spread by biting insects, leading to a peak in incidence in late summer after warm wet weather when insect population densities are high. This study illustrates the power of collaborative research and value of citizen science in characterising and understanding wildlife diseases. It also underlines the importance of continued vigilance and reporting of illnesses in wild animals, as where avian pox and other emerging diseases (such as finch trichomonosis) lead, others may follow.