Woodcock, along with many other woodland bird populations, have been in long-term decline. Habitat change has been indicated as a possible cause for some species, but evidence is sparse for others, including Woodcock, due to an incomplete knowledge of their habitat requirements, which we can now examine. National BTO/GWCT Woodcock surveys undertaken in 2003 and 2013 provided data from 807 and 823 randomly selected 1 km squares, respectively. Woodcock counts were compared with a range of landscape-scale habitat variables as well as local habitat measures recorded by surveyors, using generalised linear mixed models. Habitat variables were measured at a variety of spatial scales using ring buffers, however high correlation between scales limits interpretation. The results show that, at large landscape scales, breeding Woodcock abundance was correlated with total woodland area and woodland type. Woodcock were more abundant in woods containing a more heterogeneous mix of woodland habitat types and in woods further from urban areas. On a smaller spatial scale, Woodcock were less likely to be found at sites dominated by Beech and more likely to occur in woods containing Birch. The Woodcock’s association with large, heterogeneous woods and the apparent attractiveness of certain woodland types present the most relevant topics for future research into the role of habitat change in long-term declines.

Although we have lost over three-quarters of the UK Cuckoo population, we are unsure of the causes of this decline. Alongside this, the strong divide in northern and southern populations of Cuckoo and their local trends are cause to question why the local differences arise. This study, led by PhD student Chloe Denerley and using BTO's BBS data, used local data from Devon in comparison against data on Cuckoos and their hosts, habitats, and prey items. In Devon, Cuckoos were more likely to be found in areas with semi-natural habitat and more Meadow Pipits (but fewer Dunnocks) and with a higher number of moth species, which are predated by Cuckoos in late summer. Across the UK, Cuckoos have become more associated with upland heath with Meadow Pipits, and with wetland habitats with Reed Warblers, and the distribution of Cuckoos shifting from south to north within the UK. The abundance of moth species preyed upon by Cuckoos has declined four times faster than that of other moths. Overall, the results suggest that Cuckoos have contracted out of the farmed countryside and into heathlands and the uplands. Coordinated monitoring of moth, host and Cuckoo numbers across such projects could tell us much about the long-term prospects for reversing Cuckoo population decline in the UK

Public data archiving (PDA), where data are made freely available on demand through recognised data repositories, is increasingly being required by funders and journals to promote ‘open data’. However, this rapidly developing area brings with it some potential risks, particularly to the maintenance and operation of long-term citizen science monitoring schemes. What are the solutions?

Waterbirds in the UK presents the summarised results of the annual WeBS report, and full data available via the WeBS Report Online. It 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.

A major task for decision makers is deciding how to consider the monetary, cultural and conservation values of biodiversity. Not all species contribute to any one value to the same degree, and there is a need to develop methods to better understand the contributions made by individual species, and their wider communities, to a suite of biodiversity values. This paper examines an approach for doing this, using farmland birds as an example. The valuing of biodiversity for human benefit has become an important principle for those involved in making strategic decisions about the management of natural resources. For example, the economic contribution made to agriculture by pollinating insects has been recognised as delivering an ecosystem service; these pollinating insects can be considered as having an economic or utilitarian value. Various international initiatives have acknowledged the importance of valuing biodiversity in different ways, from the utilitarian value just mentioned through to cultural value and conservational value. There is, however, a need to understand just what ‘valuing’ biodiversity or species really means, and to determine which species within a community contribute to which values and to what degree. Few studies have attempted to score species objectively across the different ways of valuing nature and biodiversity, so this paper – which looks at farmland birds – provides some valuable insight. Gavin Siriwardena and colleagues looked at 38 farmland bird species and assessed their relative contribution to a number of biodiversity values, reflecting the amount of economically important weed seeds they took in their diet (utilitarian value), their occurrence in poetry (cultural value) and their relative rarity and population change (conservational value). The results of this work indicate that looking through the lens of just a single biodiversity value would underestimate the farmland bird community’s contribution more generally. By being able to quantify the contributions of individual species it becomes possible to determine the number and identity of those species contributing to specific services and values, and to reveal potential synergies or trade-offs between multiple values. The study found little evidence that species prominent in providing one value also contribute strongly to others, something that underlines the need to examine multiple values rather than just one when assessing biodiversity benefit. Where different biodiversity values can be assessed in this way, and made more transparent, it should deliver a more complete picture of the diverse ways in which biodiversity can be valued, and make for better informed decision making.