Produced jointly by RSPB, BTO, Natural Resource Wales (NRW) and the Welsh Ornithological Society (WOS) , this report provides a current overview of the state of breeding and wintering bird populations in Wales, as well as information about recent conservation initiatives. The State of Birds in Wales 2018 was published on 6 December 2018. This report includes an update of the latest Wales BBS trends for terrestrial and freshwater species, as well as the latest Wales WeBS trends for wintering waders, wildfowl and other waterbirds. Notable among the BBS results are the positive trajectories of Wales urban populations of House Sparrow, Feral Pigeon and Collared Dove relative to in the UK overall. Welsh House Martins are holding their own but Starlings are in steep decline. The Wales wild bird indicator, based on BBS results, tracks the declines since 1994 in both lowland and upland farmland bird species, as well as an upturn in woodland bird populations, the latter most notable over the past seven years. Patterns of change A special feature of this report is a section called ‘Patterns of change in Welsh birds’ in which key Wales-specific outputs of the 2007-11 Bird Atlas (Balmer et al. 2103) are highlighted. These include measures of the importance of Wales in supporting the UK breeding populations of Chough (76%), Pied Flycatcher (69%), Redstart (47%) and Honey Buzzard (47%) as well as significant proportions of the UK wintering populations of coastal species such Common Scoter and Guillemot as well as rarer winter visitors such as Brambling and Great Grey Shrike. The report also includes measures of long term changes (ca 40 years) in breeding range since the first breeding bird atlas. Farmland birds have fared worse, with half of all farmland species having suffered loss of breeding range, by over 50% in the case of Grey Partridge, Yellow Wagtail, Turtle Dove and Tree Sparrow. Birds of farmed uplands such as Curlew, Golden Plover, Black Grouse and Ring Ouzel also showed marked range loss. In contrast, most birds of wetlands had increased in range and new colonists to Welsh wetlands include Bearded Tit, Little Egret, Avocet and Mediterranean Gull. Birds of woodland and heaths had mixed fortunes with declines in the range of woodland specialists such as Willow Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker balanced by increases in species that favour forest plantations such as Hobby, Nightjar, Siskins and Crossbills. Another group of species that has increased its range in Wales are the non-natives, in particular Canada Goose, naturalised Greylag Goose, Mandarin Duck, Muscovy Duck, Black Swan and Ring-necked Parakeet. Also included in the report are accounts of conservation projects to investigate movements in recently fledged Hen Harriers, studies of diet and habitat use by Hawfinch, migration routes of Greenland White-fronted Geese and research on the movements and habitat requirements of Curlew, one of Wales most vulnerable species. This report should be referenced as Bladwell, S., Noble, D.G., Taylor, R., Cryer, J., Galliford, H., Hayhow, D.B., Kirby, W., Smith, D., Vanstine, A. & Wotton, S.R. 2018. The state of birds in Wales 2018. The RSPB, BTO, NRW and WOS. RSPB Cymru, Cardiff

Article 7(1) of the European Union’s Directive 2009/147/EC on the conservation of wild birds allows for the hunting of species included within Annex II, where such hunting does not jeopardise conservation efforts. Article 7(4) of the Birds Directive further clarifies that species should not be hunted during their reproductive period or, if the species are migratory, during their prenuptial migration. To ensure effective implementation of these requirements, the European Commission requires Member States to identify the extent of the reproductive period and, where applicable, the timing of prenuptial migration for species included on Annex II that occur on their territory. A review of the best available information on the period of prenuptial migration and reproduction of each huntable species, for each Member State where that species occurs, was first carried out in 2001. The review was updated in 2009 and again in 2014, primarily to fill in missing data, especially for new Member States, but also to address inconsistencies within the species information available. This research report uses the latest BTO information to provide a further update.

Highlights a new project exploring moult in Blue Tits. It also contains articles on undertaking fieldwork on the MOD estate, ageing Reed Buntings, monitoring Woodpigeon nests, and ringing without mist nets.

Assessing species' vulnerability to climate change is a prerequisite for developing effective strategies to conserve them. The last three decades have seen exponential growth in the number of studies evaluating how, how much, why, when, and where species will be impacted by climate change. We provide an overview of the rapidly developing field of climate change vulnerability assessment (CCVA) and describe key concepts, terms, steps and considerations. We stress the importance of identifying the full range of pressures, impacts and their associated mechanisms that species face and using this as a basis for selecting the appropriate assessment approaches for quantifying vulnerability. We outline four CCVA assessment approaches, namely trait-based, correlative, mechanistic and combined approaches and discuss their use. Since any assessment can deliver unreliable or even misleading results when incorrect data and parameters are applied, we discuss finding, selecting, and applying input data and provide examples of open-access resources. Because rare, small-range, and declining-range species are often of particular conservation concern while also posing significant challenges for CCVA, we describe alternative ways to assess them. We also describe how CCVAs can be used to inform IUCN Red List assessments of extinction risk. Finally, we suggest future directions in this field and propose areas where research efforts may be particularly valuable.

Leg lesions, more commonly known as ‘scaly leg’ or ‘tassel foot’ are growths on the legs of feet of finches. A study from the Zoological Society of London in collaboration with BTO, the Complutense University of Madrid and Linnaeus University, explores the causes, seasonality and distribution of one of the most notable diseases in wild birds in Britain. Leg lesions are one of the most commonly seen signs of ill health in British birds. Results from post-mortems on over a thousand finches have found that these leg lesions have two causes; a virus (Fringilla coelebs papillomavirus) and mites (Cnemidocoptes). The most frequently affected birds are Chaffinches but leg lesions have also been documented in other finch species. Weekly reports from BTO Garden BirdWatchers, as well as ad hoc sightings of disease from members of the public to Garden Wildlife Health, show that leg lesions in finches are widespread across the UK. However, reports of leg lesions increase during the winter period between November- March, at a time when we see an influx of Chaffinches from the continent, joining our breeding birds. The increase in migratory finches at this time might help to explain the increase in disease reporting rate in the winter months. We know that leg lesions, whilst distressing to see, often do not impede the birds and most of the time they behave normally, but in severe cases birds can become lame and will be increasingly vulnerable to predation. Currently there is no evidence that leg lesions pose a threat to conservation of wild finches. You can help reduce the spread of the disease in your garden by following good hygiene measures when feeding garden birds, such as regularly cleaning your feeders. For more information on how to prevent disease and to report disease in your garden see the Garden Wildlife Health website.