TheBreeding Bird Survey1994-1995 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

The Breeding Bird Suntey 1994-7995

ReportlVumber 1

by R.D.Gregory & R.I.Bashford Withthe assistance of D.E.Balmeq, I.H. Marchant, A.M. Wilson & S.R.Baillie

Publishedby BritishTrust for Ornithology,Joint Nature Conservation Committee and RoyalSociety for theProtection of Birds, August1996

@ BritishTrust for Ornithology,Joint Nature Conservation Committee and RoyalSociety for theProtection of Birds,1996

*Rttfi& CONSERVATION BritishTrust for 0rnithology COMMITTEE

F E H rsBN0 e037e363 6 (BTO) * r€s g ffi 116 Hii: The Breed Bird SurveyReporc 1994-1995

BREEDINGBIRDSURYEY Organisedand tunded by: British Trust for Orntthology TheNational Centre for Ornithology,The Nunnery Thetford,Norfolk IP24 2PU Joint Natue ConsewationCommittee MonktoneHouse, City Road, PeterboroughPEI UY RoyalSociety for the Pmtectionof Birds TheLodge, Saldy, BedfordshireSGl9 zDL

BBSNauonal Organiser: Richard Bashford - Briush Trust for Ornithology

Thisreport is providedfree to all BBScounters, none of whom receivefinancial rewards for their invaluablework.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Tiis is the first BreedingBird suruey[BBs) Annual Report covering the yearslgg4 and 1995. The datacontained within havebeen collected almostentirely by the effo s of nearly2000 volunteerornithologisis without whom, the BBSwould not be possible.This repoft, and thoseto follow, are testamentto the generousefforts of highly skiled volunteers. We would alsolike to thank member; of RSPBstaff ilscotland for their assistancein carrying out professionalfieldwork in remote areas. ^ The BBSis organisedby the Bdtish Trust for Ornithologyand jointly funded by the British Trust for Ornithology,the Joint Nature ConseNation Committee(on behalf of EnglishNature, Scottish Naturt Heritage,Countryside Council for walesand the Deiartmentof the Environmentfor Northemlreland)and the Royalsociety for the Protectionof Biids. The I'BSsteering croup compisesDr SiephenBaiuie (BTo), Dr Rtchird Gregory[BTO), David Stoud (]NCC)and Dr Davidcibbons [RSPB]. .^Ig.t9 u.ry _9.t".ry1b-thefollowing peolle who havein someway providedassistance in the first two yearsof the scheme:Dr Mark Ayery {lllB]r Lln 4ylwalq {BTO),Dr lan Bainb dge(RSPB), Dawn Balmer (BiO], ceorgeBoobyer (JNCC), Tracey Brookes (BTO), Dr CotinCatbraith (JNcc), Dr,David Gibbons(RSPB), Dr Jeremy_Greenwood (BTo), \,iv}Ii6m {BTb),Jod rrairctrani1oroj, chris M;rley'iBTo), Carotpovey (BTOI'Dr KenSmith (RSPB), David Stroud (JNCC), Susan waghorn (BTO), and Anarew Wilson (BTCj). Sp;ciat thanks gb io tire.tateDr Stev6 Carterwho actedas the BBSNational Orsaniser in 1994. The PilotCensus Ploject, which wasa forerunneroI the BBS,was supponed under a contmctfrom the JointNature Conseruation Committee ion behalfof EnglishNature, Scottish Natural Heritage, Countyside C'ouncil for Walesand the Departmintof the Environmentfor Northern Ireland)'The- proiect to_evahrate sampling_str_ategies wasfunded bythe RoyalSociety for the ProtectionofBitds. Membersofthe BTO'Slntegrated iYlolLrtglng_w9fkilg "Moss, lopllltun Group,Dr Riys creen, Prof.steve BucKand, Di NichotasAebisher, Dr Johncoss,custard, Dr Dorian DavidStroud,-Dr Ken Smith, Dr JeremyGreenwood, Dr Will Peach,and Dr HumphreyC ck, provid;din;aluable advice on the survey'OlSdesign. The mapsof cov€Iageand distfibution were producedusing DMAP which was ;itte; by Di Aan Morton. The coverillustration anO to'go areby AndrewWilson. Otherillushations in this reportare by the late CrispinFisher, Simon cillings, Dayid Thelwell and RobHume. Repo-rt productionis by Nicki Read.

Dedication Thefirst issue of the BBSreport is dedicatedto Dr SteveCarter, the firutnauonai organiser of the scheme,who diedon 2l September1995.

Citatloft Grcgory,R.D., Bashford, R.t., Balmer, D.E., Marchant, J.H., Wilson, A.M. & Baillie,S.R. p96. TheBrceding Bird SurueytqQ4 19q5 B tish Trustfor Omithology,Thetford.

2 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

The Breeding Bird Sunsey 1994-1995

Suvey Speciescoverage ...... 8 Between-yeilchanges ...... 12 Countrybasedtrends...... 13 Habitatcoverage ...... 14

15

Humansites -uldiscovered tenit0ry...... 15 Uplaldsquares - hud work producing valuable data...... 15 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-l.995

BreedingBird Survey

INTRODUCTION in farmingpractice seem most likely to be responsible.Our findings havestimulated related research and specific action plans designed to Th. needto monitorwildlife populations has arguably never been so I geat, with large-scalechanges in farmingpractices and new human help thesebirds recover. CBC data have also contributed to the developmentincreasingly evident all acrossthe UK. Effectivebird Government'sBiodiversity Action Plans for the UK. programmes conservationwould simplynot be possibleif therewere no monitoring Few monitoring can comparewith the qualityand programmesto tell us how populationlevels are changing and, ideally, durationof the CBCand WBS. Long-terminformation of this kind is to providepointers as to why thesechanges are taking place. Monitoring extremelyrare andvaluable for that reason.Despite the considerable birds,as opposedto other elementsof our wildlife,has the added achievementsof the schemes, however, there are a numberof limitations advantagethat birds can act as a valuablebarometer of the healthof the to the territorymapping method, as carried out by BTO: widercountryside. The BTO has been at theforefront of birdmonitoring . The geographicaldistribution of surveyplots is not representative work sinceit was formedand hasan internationalreputation in this of the UK asa wholewith mostsquares being concentrated in the area. southand east. Againstthis backcloth the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) was introduced o Onlyfarmland, woodland and riparian habitats are represented. in the breedingseason of 1994as an annualsurvey of widespreadand o Becauseobservers choose areas they wish to census,bird populations abundantlandbirds across the UK. The threeBBS partners are the in thesample may not be representative of UK birdpopulations as a BritishTrust for Ornithology,the NatureConservation Joint Committee whole. (on behalfof EnglishNature, Scottish Natural Heritage, Countryside Councilfor Walesand the Departmentof the Environmentfor Northern o Relativelyfew plots can be covered in.total (approximately 200 CBC Ireland)and the RoyalSociety for the Protectionof Birds.This exciting and 100WBS plots) because of the time-consumingnature of the newpartnership demonstrates our shared interests in wildlifemonitoring, fieldworkand analysis required by the mappingmethod. in which eachorganisailon makes a uniqueand valuable contribution. It is vitalthat we continuethe CBCin parallelwith BBSfor sometime The BBScomplements the annualmonitoring of rarebreeding birds, sothat the results from the two canbe properly calibrated. waterbirds,and seabirds that is carriedout by a numberof differentUK organisationsand partnerships. Survey development Thisis the first annualreport of the BBSand is designedto inform birdwatchers,especially survey volunteers and organisers,of progress Wehave been exploring alternative ways of monitoringcommon birds andof futureplans. It will alsoprovide a valuablesource of information for sometime. Beforeembarking on a new surveyscheme it was for conservationpractitioners and policy makers who areinterested in essentiaithat the alternativeswere properly assessed. This involved a the resultsof the suryey. Herewe describethe backgroundto the numberof field anddesk based studies dating back to the late 1980s. scheme'sintroduction and population change between 1994 and 1995. Thereare two obviousalternatives to territorymapping for wide-scale bird monitoringand these are line or pointcount transects. Al1 three methodsare used for thispurpose other Previous monitoring in Europeancountries and in NorthAmerica. TheCommon Birds Census (CBC) and Waterways Bird Survey (WBS) First,we testedwhether point counts carried out on CBCplots were havebeen the main monitoring tools for commonbirds in theUK over ableto measurepopulation changes among birds in the sameway as thelast 35 years. Both are based on a surveymethod known as "territory CBCmapping. The answer was that they could simplymaking two mapping"which involves intensive fieldwork designed to mapbreeding pointcounts per year on a CBCplot produced measures of population territoriesof birdswithin a chosenplot. Skilledvolunteers make typically changethat were similar to CBC,but with a greatsaving in timefor the nine or ten visitsto their plot eachyear to recordbirds. Theyreturn volunteer.While point counts provided a reliableoverall picture of bird theirsurvey maps to BTOHO wherethe positionand number of bird populations,they did not provide information at the individual plot level territoriesare assessed by trainedstaff. thatwas comparable with CBC.This showed us that alternative suryey Theseschemes have proved highly valuable in revealingpopulation methodswere feasibleand that asfew astwo sitevisits per year were fluctuationsamong British birds and helping to understandtheir causes. acceptablefor monitoringpurposes, provided that the numberof sites P L CBCdata have played a keyrole in drawingup thenew listingsof Birds coveredwas relatively large. In fact,we estlmatedthat at leastone l! h of ConservatlonConcern, in which a numberof relativelycommon thousandsites would need to becovered by point counts for monitoring E E birdsare now listedas of highconservation concern, lncluding Grey to be on h parwith the CBC. Partridge,Turtle Dove, Skylark, Song Thrush, Spotted Flycatcher, Tree Asa continuationof thesetrials, the Pilot Census Project (PCP) tested Efr

a. Sparrow,Linnet, Bullfinch, Reed Bunting and Corn Bunting. The line andpoint count transects in 1992-93.The aim was to developa f, i: predominanceof farmlandbirds on thislist is striking.The numbers of quick,simple and enjoyable survey method that wouid appeal to a wide 5r 5 all thesebirds have fallen by morethan 50% in the last25 yearc.Ouite rangeof birdwatchers across the UK. Indeed,the response of volunteers h why thesechanges have occurred remains open to debatebut changes formeda vital partof the projectand shaped how it wasto develop. E tr Thesampling unit chosenwas the 1x1km squareof theNational Grid. position grid a The of a squarecan be easilydefined by a referenceand K" 7 eachusually contains a largeenough variety of birdsto beof interestto E F. a birdwatcher,without being unworkable. Squares were chosen as a g randomsample and assignedto a suitablevolunteer by Regional F Organisers,who in the mainwere BTO Regional Representatives. Two morningbird countswere compieted each year using each of E the two methodsso that they could be compared.Two one-kilometre F B= transectswete set up in eachsquare. One counting method involved ii line transects,the otherfive-minute point counts linked by line transect E E sections.Birds were recorded on specially designed forms and in distance bandsfrom the ffansectline when first detected. Observers needed to ft assessin whichdistance band (0-25m,25-100m, 100m or more)each :EE birdoccurred. Volunteers also recorded the sorts of habitatsalong their V transectsusing special codes. E The PCPbroke ground in testinga numberof new approachesto & € extensivesurvey work in the UK. Theseincluded choosing sites F F: randomly,using 1xl km squaresas surveyunits, recording birds in E distancebands, and recording habitat in detail.It wasvery well supported '*rsg s* € sHi: ffi & The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995 andprovided valuable results. We showed that the line andpoint count Thebroader aims of the BBSare to provide: transectsproduced similar measures ofpopulation change across species. o Populationtrends, for asmany species as possible, for the UK asa Linetransects were marginally more precise, required slightly less time whole - suchinformation is essentialfor bird conservationat a to compiete,recorded more birds per unit time,and also tended to be nationallevel. favouredby volunteers- but [herewas little to choosebetween the two population methods.Our conclusion, bearing in mindthat the BBS was to covera Species trendsfor individualcountries within UK. (English widevariefy of habitatsacross the UK, was that the line transect method Informationis requiredby the threecountry agencies wasthe more suitable. Nature,Scottish Naturai Heritage and the CountrysideCouncil for The PCPalso confirmed that carryingout just two bird countsper Wales)and by the Departmentof the Environmentfor Northern year(using either line or pointcount transects), produced measures of Ireland. populationchanges that werecomparable with thosefrom the CBC. Populationtrends for EuropeanUnion (EU) regions within the UK. All the indicationswere that two visitswould be adequateto measure The EU BirdsDirective is a key pieceof legislationin relationto changesin birdnumbers. Furthermore, the smaller time input per year internationalbird conservation. meantthat we couldinvolve many more birdwatchers and thus spread Populationtrends by habitattype. Conservationof particularspecies the geographicalrange of our monitoring. and habitattypes will be greatlyimproved by a morecomplete Thefinal issue to beresolved was the sampling design, that is, how to understandingof relationships between birds and habitats. setabout choosing the surveysquares. It wasimmediately ciear that somekind of formaisampling strategy would be necessaryto assess populationchanges in a statisticallyrigorous manner. This is the only SURVEY METHODS guarantee way to that our monitoringresults are representative and Selecting suryey squares withoutit ourfindings would always be open to question.A desk-based studytested different ways of selectingsurvey squares, including Surveysquares are selected at random from within 83 samplingregions. samplingat random,sampling on a regulargrid, and samplingby In mostcases, these are standard BTO regions, but we havelinked a landscapetype. few smallerregions with largerones. BBS regions with largernumbers Overall,species coverage was similar for each of the different sampiing of potentialvolunteers are allocated a larger number of squaresenabling strategiesin our ffials. Perhapssurprisingly, choosing squares by morebirdwatchers to becomeinvolved in theseareas. Note that this landscapetype, either choosing squares in proportionto theiroccurfence doesnot introduce bias in ourresults because the analysis takes account in UK,or takingthe same number of squaresfrom each landscape type, of differencesin samplingintensity between regions. did not significantlyincrease the numberof specieswe were ableto Forthe reasons described above, BBS methods require relatively large cover. Thiswas probablybecause these strategies were not ableto samplesizes. In thefirst year of theBBS, we aimedto coverone thousand targetspecialised habitats like lowlandheaths or reedbeds.Since we 1x1km squaresand we intendthis figure to riseto betweentwo and know that volunteersare unevenly spread across the UK, with most threethousand squares in the nextfew years. peopleliving in the southand east, we choseto selectlarger numbers of squareswhere there were more volunteers. In doingso we ensure Survey design adequatecovelage in allareas, while allowing many people to beinvolved in well-populatedones. We concluded that the selection of BBSsquares Theprincipal features of BBSare: shouldbe basedon randomsampling with the numberof squaresin . Standardisedbird countsare madein randomlyselected 1-km eachregion proportional to observerdensify. This is the sampling strategy squaresof the NationalGrid. usedby BBS. . An initialsite visit is madeto setup two 1 km line lransectsand to recordhabitat details. Aims of the BBS . TWomorning visits are made to countbirds of all speciesseen or Our reasonsfor settingup the BBSwere: heard. Birdsare recordedindividually in one of threedistance categoriesor asin flight. o To improvethe geographlcalrepresentation of bird monitoringin . the UK; Fieldworkis co-ordinatedthrough a networkof BBSRegional Organisers,who, likemost of the fieldworkers,are volunteers. . Toimprove the habitat representation of bird monitoring in theUK; o To increasespecies coverage of bird monitoringin the UK, largely Fieldwork asa productof thepoints above. TheBBS will provideprecise information on year-to-yearand longer- Full detailsof methodsare given in the BBSinstructions which we termchanges in populationlevels for a broadspectrum of ourcommoner issuefreely from BTOHO. In brief,fieldwork involves three visits to breedingbirds across the rangeof regionsand habitats in the UK. A eachsurvey square each year. The first is to recorddetails of thehabitat primaryobjective will beto identifyrapidly declining species that require andto establishthe survey route, the secondand third to countbirds. conservationaction and, in combinationwith otherdata from the BTO's Thesurvey route is madeup of two parallellines, each I km in length, IntegratedPopulation Monitoring Programme, to providepointers as to althoughfor practicalreasons routes typically deviate somewhat fiom the causesof populationchanges. The parallel recording of birdsand the ideal. Eachof theselines is dividedinto five sections,making a landuse within the BBSwill facilitatea muchbetter understanding of totalof ten 200msections, and birds and habitats are recorded within thefactors responsible for population changes. This will beof particular theseunits. Habitat type and land use are tecorded annually on a habitat form. Thisform describes the habitatsurveyed along the actualroute importancefor birdsin seriousdecline. 'ideal' In a widercontext, the BBS aims to promotea greaterunderstanding andalso along the transectif it is different.By recordingthe of the populationbiology of Britishbirds through a uniquepartnership idealroute we are ableto assesswhether the deviationsobservers of largenumbers of skilledvoiunteers with a smallnumber of professional necessarilymake have the effect of over-or under-representinghabitats staffat BTO HO. The resultis high qualitymonitoring information within theirsquares. collectedin a highlycost-effective manner. A1lthe surveyforms were designedso that the datacan be readily computerised.For example, codes for speciesnames, county, weather conditionsand habitat allow detailed information to beinput efficiently. Observerschoose appropriate habitat codes from an estabiished system whichis commonto a rangeof BTOschemes. Habitatinformation is essentialin interpretingwhy birdnumbers are changingthrough time and thus focusing conservation effort. BBS habitat recordingis alsovaluable in its own rightin measuringland use changes throughtime acrossthe UK. In this respect,the surveyis of unique value. The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-lggs

Countvisits are timed so thatthe first is in thefirst half of thebreeding caithness,sutherland, fugy1l, Ross-shire, and Inverness-shire. A total seasonand the second in thesecond half. It isrecommended that visiti of 68 squareswere covered in 1994and 1995. This forms a significant shouldbe at leastfour weeks apart.Volunteers are asked to begintheir proportionof Scottishsquares (see Table I and covershabitat types countsbetween 6am and ) 7amso that theycoincide with maximum that arescarce in the BBSsample as a whole. Thisinput hasbeen bjrd activity,but avoid the concentratedsong activity at dawn. invaluableto the surveybut the RSpBcannot guarantee this levelof Volunteersrecord allthe birds they see or hearas they walk methodically supportindefinitely. Accordingly, the promotion of thesurvey potential along to theirffansect routes. observers are encouraged to pause,listen volunteersin theseareas continues to be a highpriority. andscan for birdsas they walk alongtheir transects, Birds are noted in threedistance categories (within 25m, 25-100m, or overl00m either Mammal recording sideof _theline) measuredat right anglesto the transectline, or asin flight. Recordingbirds in distancebands is importantbecause it gives a Mammalrecording was introduced to the BBSon a trialbasis in i[,q5, measureof bird detectabilityin differenthabitats and allows population with a view to helpimprove our knowledgeof the distributionand densityto be estimated.The average time observers spend pei visitis populationtrends of someof ourcommoner mammals. of course,the around90 minutes. focusof the BBSis on birdsbut we recognisethat the collectionof Birdsare noted on speciallydesigned forms using the two-letter species informationon extragroups can add great value to the schemeas a codesthat were pioneered by the cBC. observersare encouraged to whole,in additionto providingadded interest for participants. compared transferthe field records onto summary forms as soon after the fieldwork with birds,population trends of mammalsare quitepoorly known. as is convenient.Header information on both formsincludes the Historically,there has been just one national atlas of mammalsbut three observer'sname, address and telephone number, the square reference. differentatlases of birds. volunteershave been encouraged to record countycode, date, whether the bird count was the early or thelate one mammalsagain in 1996and we wiil continueto reviewthe popularity in theseason, weather conditions, and the starting and finishing times andeffectiveness of the trial. of thetwo halvesof the uansect.counties are reiorded using 4-letter codeswhich are standard across BTo schemes.weather codes describe Analysis I cloudcover, rain, wind, andvisibility. Themajority of formsare returned TheBBS aims to measurebetween-year E to BTo He throughour network changesin populationsizes of :' of organisers.organisers are thereforein a positionto chaseup birds. Briefly,this involves comparing species counts fiom oneyear to i outstandingforms, answer queries and note interesting thenext for those squares that have been counted in bothyears. :: observationi. counts 2 on receiptat BTo Ho, all formsare double-checked ny"stat for clarity fiom the earlyand late visits can be summarisedfor thispurpose in a F andobvious errors, before being sent to be inputby an outsideagency. numberof ways:e.g. as the average bird count from the two visits,as z Field F formsare kept for reference.Further oetaited checking is carried thehighest count from the two visits,or asthe sumof thecounts from i! out on the computeriseddata set. bothvisits. we alsohave to decidehow to treatdata F whenonly one a visitwas made. Furtherwork is necessaryto decidewhich of these F F Organisation optionsprovides the most precise population monitoring. complications alsoarise when a newvolunteer takes over a square.In thiscase, we ti Thesurvey is organised_lgcally through a network mightdown weight ::. of Regionalorganisers thechange measures for that pair of years, compared I (Ros],who are .3 mostlyBTo RegionalRepresentatives. The main task of with siteswherc the observerhas not changed, althoug]'tthis ii not f the Ro is :: to find volunteersfor eachof their survevsquares and to implementedat present.Again more work is requiredin developlng f coordinatethe distributionand returnof surveyforms.' Each Ro is the analysisof BBSdata and this we planto do on a species-by-speciei = provided + with a listof targetsquares for their region at thebeginning of basisover the next few years. i: eachseason with the instructionthat squaresshould be allocatedin It strict 5 orderfrom the top downwards. The list comes complete with the SURVEYNEWS namesof the volunteerswho r: carriedout fieldworkin the previous i- year(s).The samesquares are surveyedyear after year and new The 1994season volunteersare found if theoriginal i; onedrops out. Thehighest priority * is to resurveysquares covered in the previousyear and The introductionof BBSwas reportedin a varietyof magazinesand then 1o find F voiunteersfor anygaps in thelist. iournals,and we achievedfar morethan we couldhave hoped in the E firstyear. *: It is importantthat organisersdeviate as little aspossible fiom the our targetnumber of squareswas easily reached, and then sutpassed,thanks to the F. priorityorder of coverage,so thatthe randomdesign of the surveyis tremendousefforts of observersand organisers i.d maintained.obviously, geography comes into play when finding squares acrossthe uK. our hopesof beingable to achievea goodgeographical *Fi nearto observers,but spreadwere also realised with promisingnumbers of returnsfiom pt?: it is importantthat the mostpromising squares the F glengt picked in preferenceto squarescontaining less appealinghabitats. northand west. we realisedthat it wasimportant to buildon thisearly s Ideally,there should be no gapsin a listbut wa recognisethat successand the scheme was widely publicised through articles and talks. F it is not gi:r alwayspossible to find volunteers al for everysquare, especially in the F moreremote areas. we do needto ensurethat particular habitats are The 1995season E notexcluded through observer choice - allhabitats are of importanceto F certainbirds. Publicityin severalmagazines in the earlyspring resulted in overtwo & hundrednew enquiriesfrom volunteerswanting to takepart in the s survey.The majoriry of F theexisting volunteers are made up fromBTo a Feedback F members.Most subsequentenquiries have come from peoplewho e' fr. we acknowledgethe safereceipt of BBSforms directly with hadn'tyet joined.This has given many people their first contact with * observers F whenthey reach BTo Ho. Eachspring everyone taking part will receive the BTo andhas resulted in manynew members.Each volunteer was w a copyof censusNews, sentinformation on the BBSand BTo, andthe nameand address of E? the Newsletterof the censusunit, andin the * autumna copy theirRo. Theregional network is without doubt the key to thesuccess s of the BBSannual report. survey news is alsoreported h s regularlyin BTo News,the BTo'sbimonthly membership newsletter of the schemeand promotion at a locallevel is essential. TheBBS was promoted at the majorbird fairsin the summerand a gffi tour of Scottishornithologists' club Brancheswas undertaken in Professional coverage the R autumn. In addition,several talks were given about the work of the e4 while thegreater part of BBSfieldwork is carried out by skilled amateurs censusUnit, includinga workshopat the BTo AnnualMembership xi* IE acrossthe country we recognisethat thereare few volunteersin the conferenceat Swanwickin Derbyshire.promotion was also directed gt* moreremote north and west. In orderto maintainproper coverage the to regionswith no currentRo, by circulatingcalls for help to BTo trffi RSPBhas funded professional fieldworkers members.This resulted in improvedcoverage in * to coverremote squares in a numberof regions ft but it is no substitutefor an effectiveRO. IF F+1- F # #E€ fi ffi ffi * ffi The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995 E F E Tips to volunteers Timetable rE With growingexperience of the BBSwe cannow providea numberof Surveyforms are sent out to ROsat the slartof eachyear with the bulk tips and remindersto volunteers.The first point is that it is very of fieldworkbeing completed between April andJune. We askthat E importantto maintainconsistency from one year to the next. Try to completedforms are then returned to the ROsin Julyand August, and E repeatyour suryeyalong the originaltransect routes and close to the thenon to BTOHO. Whilethe great majority of formsare received by datesand times of the previousyear. You your canshift visitsa little BTOHO by 'Wnite thelate autumn, forms continue to tricklein, eveninto the E earlieror laterif the springis particularlyearly or late. New Year. we very muchwelcome these late forms,they can Wewould strongly encourage volunteers to carryout a habitatsurvey causedifficulties in termsof datachecking and inputting. Pleasetry to F eachyear, so that even minor land use changes are recorded. Colleclion getyour forms back to usas soon as possible after completing fieldwork. of habitatdata is essentialif we areto understandpopulation declines. Oncereceived by BTOHO, the job of checkingand processing can Timemight be saved if you areable to takea photocopyof thehabitat thenbegin in earnestand with 5,000-10,000separate forms this is a formeach year. Notethat it isn'tnecessary to drawa detailedsketch considerabletask. Formsare then sentout to be input,before flnal E mapeach year if you havepreviously completed one, but pleasedraw checkingcan be completed. A1l this obviously takes time and so results F andnumber your transect route in the boxprovided. for any one yearwill not be availableuntil the followingspring or Wewould also ask all observers to writethe bird names in full beside summer.This process is slowedby the receiptof late - so the F forms F thetwo-letter codes on thesummary sheets. It is surprisinghow often earlierwe receivedata, the quickerwe areable to reportthe results E we needto checkthese codes, since it is so easyto write down the backto participants. wrongcode and, even when it iscorrect, it canbe wrongly input. There arealso a few problemspecies. Mistle Thrush (M.) often gets reported RESULTS E asMT (MarshTit), Greenfinch(GR) as GF (GoldenPheasant), and F Swallows(SL) as SW (SedgeWarbler). Please make sure that single- Surveycoverage letterspecies codes are followed by a fullstop - thissolves any confusion F whenthe data are computerised (e.g. R. Robin). Another problem species Our targetin 1994had been to cover1000 BBS squares, and with the is theSkylark because most records are bird singing in flight.A singing helpof ourvolunteers and organisers, we actuallycovered 1565 squares F Skylarkshould be recordedin the mostappropriate distance category acrossthe UK (Table1). Ouraim in 1995 was to consolidatethis success F ratherthan as in flight. andexpand coverage where possible. This our volunteers were able to E do,pushing the total number of squaresto at least1725. Thetable shows the numbers of squaresissued to RegionalOrganisers F SpeciesSummaries andthe proportions actually surveyed by countryand year. The numbers Oncethe BBSdata are checked and computerised it is easyfor us to of squaresin Englandincreased fiom 1994 to 1995,with theproportion producecounty-based species summaries. We havebeen actively of squaressurveyed constant at70%. Similarly,the numbers of squares encouragingROs and the editorsof localbird reportsto usethese coveredin Scotlandalso increased, as did the proportionof squares summaries,since this provides feedback to volunteers,provides data on issued,from 49% to 52%. The numberof squarescovered in Wales the commonerbirds that tend to be under-recorded,and promotes the was fairlyconstant, although the proportionof squarescovered was E surveyamong birdwatchers. Obviously, the moresquares surveyed in downslightly in 1995,from 64%to 5B%. Coverage in NorthernIreland a counfyor region,the moreaccurate and meaningful the information fel1between 1994 and 1995fiom 34%to 27%of. squares issued, but collected.Several 1994 bird reportshave already included summary we hopefor much better success in the 1996breeding season. At a UK informationfrom the BBS. level,we wereable to increasethe number of squares surveyed between F 1994and 1995,and maintain the proportionof squarescovered at 64%(Table 1). Wewould obviously like to seecoverage increase in all countries,with Northernlreland, Wales and Scotlandbeing priority areas. E Table1 alsoshows the numbersof squaresreported as uncoverable by volunteersor regionalorganisers, mostiy because landowners have refusedpermission to carryout fieldwork. The proportion of uncoverable squaresis relativelylow at 12%in Scotland,7% in Wales,5% in England b6 and3% in NorthernIreland in 1995. Theproportion of thesesquares weresimilar in 1994and 1995. ffi Thedistribution maps show the breadthof BBScoverage in the UK (Figure1). Thereare obvious clusters, e.g. around London, Bristol and Manchester,but tremendousspread to all pointsof the compass.The lossesand gains between I 994 and 1995shows us how we arefaring E regionallyand there has been an encouragingincrease in coveragein ffi manyregions. It is particularlyheartening to seeimproved coverage in EE manyparts of Scotland,south Wales, the south-westof England,East Angliaand many other English counties. There are also many regions # wherewe would like to do a little better. sffi

Table 1. A breakdownof the 1994and 1995 coverage of BBSsguares bv countrv.

Englond Scotlond Woles Northern lrelond Totol

1994 lssued t669 506 189 74 2438 ffi Surveyed | 172(70%) 247 (4e%) t2. (64%) 2s (34%) tsss (64%) ffi Uncoverable 87 (s%) s3 (t t%) ls (8%) 0 ls4 (6%) ffi | 995 ffi lssued r86| 540 206 76 2683 ffi Surveyed ,30e (70%) 28| (s2%) I re (s8%) t5 (21%) t72s (54%) Uncoverable e0 (s%) 64 (t2%) t4 (7%\ 2 (3%) 170 (6%) ffi ffi ffi ffi The Breeding Bird Survey Report 1994-1995

.:s",,{ "vi"n P(i 1P :t l.l- ti

, ^_ga_^_f* {--fi f tl

[.1 li, L"r] L:

Figure l. Thedistribution of BBSsquajes in 1994and 1995. Theleft-hand map shows those lxl km squarescoyered in both 1994and1995. Theright-hand map shows l xl km squaressuryeyed for the tusttime in 1995(closed symbols) and those surueyed in 1994but not in 1995(open symbols).Note that the Republicof Irelandis not coveredby the BBSat present.

Species coverage The focusof the BBSis on widespreadspecies and Tables2-4 show thiswill bewith lesscertainty than those species in Table2. Ideally,we speciescoverage on the basisof the numberof squaresfound to be needto increasethe samplesizes for thesespecies over the next few occupied. years:Cormorant, Tufted Duck, Redstart,Marsh Tit andSiskin are all Therange of speciesrecorded in the two yearsis mostimpressive, cioseto the thresholdof around100 squares occupied each year. with 192 and199 species seen in 1994and 1995respectively (Tables Speciesrecorded from l-50 squarestend to be rarerbirds that are 2-5). Thesetotals include introduced birds such as Bar-headed Goose confinedto specifichabitats or regions(Table 4). Waterbirds,birds of andPeacock (since we needto keepan eyeon exoticbirds in the UK), prey,waders, terns and a variedgroup of passerinesappear on thislist. but not tacesor formssuch as Hooded Crow, Rock Dove and Yellow- Theyinclude a numberof uplandbirds and those with rangesrestricted leggedGull. Sevenspecies were recorded in 1994but not in 1995: to northernareas including Red-throated Diver, Hen Harrier,Merlin, GreatNorthern Diver, Snow Goose, Dotterel, Crested Tit, GoldenOriole, Peregrine,Whimbrei, Greenshank, Ring Ousel, Twite, Fieldfare, Pied Red-backedShrike and Serin. Fifteenwere recorded for the first time Flycatcherand Crossbill. With increasedcoverage in thewest and north in 1995:Whooper Swan, Pintail, Red-crested Pochard, Honey Buzzard, we hopeto be ableto monitorspecies such as GrasshopperWarbler, Crane,Grey Plover, Sanderling, Ruff, Jack Snipe, Spotted Redshank, PiedFlycatcher and Ctossbill. Overall, it is unlikelythat we wouldbe BlackTern, Marsh Warbler, Great Grey Shrike, Scottish Crossbill and ableto provideaccurate coverage of mostof thesebirds because of their SnowBunting. Of course,these bilds are too rareto be monltored relativerarity. The scheme is not designedto covercolonial seabirds, annuallyby BBSand those that stay to breedare mostly covered by the thougha smallnumber are recorded from coastal survey squares. RareBreeding Birds Panel, but we canstill collectvaluable information Notethat coloniallandbirds such as Rook,Sand Martin and some on their occurrenceand theywould brightenup anyone'sBBS visit. gullscan be recorded within BBSas nest counts, although results from Encouragingly,a total of 76 specieswere recorded from over 100 theseare not presentedhere. squaresin bothsurvey years, indicating that these birds would be covered accuratelyby the BBS(Table 2). Thislist includesBuzzard, Meadow Pipitand Wheatear, which will all be monitoredaccurately for the first time in the UK. Fourwaders will alsobe monitored,including Oystercatcher,Curleq Lapwingand Snipe,the latter two havebeen poorlycovered by the CBCand WBSin recentyears because of populationdeclines. The tablealso suggests that monitoringof urban birdssuch as House Sparrow, Starling and Feral Pigeon will be greatly improvedover the presentsituation. Therehave been worries ovet populationdeclines of HouseSparrow and Starling, and the BBS should allowus to tracktheir fortunesmore accurately from now on. A further23 specieswere recorded fiom 51-100squares (Table 3), indicatingthat while we will be ableto measurepopulation changes,

d The Breeding Bird Survey Report 1994-1995

Table2. Speciesrecorded by the BBSin 1994-95in mor€than 100squares in eachyear. Foreach yeal igues on the l€ft arcthe numberof squaresthe specieswas recorded hom (n) a]rdthe figureson the dght representthe percentageof squaresv/ith lhat species{%). Speciesin parenthesisare usually recognised as races or formsof speciesateady repres€nted.

Species t994 ,995 Species 1994 1995 % %

Grey Heron 337 22 394 23 Dunnock | 087 69 ,227 7l Mute Swan |4 7 r25 7 Robin t273 8l t427 83 CanadaGoose r84 t2 226 t3 Wheatear r90 a2 222 t3 Mallard 661 42 742 43 Blackbird r35| 86 t489 86 Sparrowhawk 221 t4 2r0 t2 SongThrush r030 66 ltst 67 Buzzard 286 t8 323 t9 Mistle Thrush 7t0 45 774 45 Kestrel 458 29 452 26 SedgeWarbler r63 t0 t9l Il Red-leggedPartridge 262 t7 300 l7 Lesser Whitethroat 203 I3 t84 tl Grey Partridge t83 t2 t9l tl Whitethroat 674 43 772 45 Pheasant 900 58 999 58 Garden Warbler 267 t7 306 18 Moorhen 375 24 447 26 Blackcap 713 46 787 46 Coot 128 8 152 9 Chiffchaff 644 4l 729 42 Oystercatcher t76 il t96 il Willow Warbler 972 62 l07r 62 Lapwing 492 3l 496 29 Goldcrest 347 22 438 25 Snipe t04 7 |7 7 Spotted Flycatcher t73 tl t60 9 Curlew 352 22 368 2l Long-tailedTit 472 30 535 3l Black-headedGull 372 24 4t5 24 Coal Tit 4t3 26 421 24 Common Gull t09 7 n7 7 Blue Tit | 230 79 t367 79 Lr Black-backedGull 294 l9 323 t9 Great Tit il t3 7l 1248 72 HerringGull 320 20 328 l9 Nuthatch 205 t3 2r3 l2 Feral Pigeon 364 73 449 26 Treecreeper 2t4 t4 2t3 t2 Stock Dove 457 29 526 30 lav 421 27 392 23 Woodpigeon I353 86 r52| 88 Magpie t022 65 lt3t 66 Collared Dove 723 46 807 47 Jackdaw 844 54 942 55 Turtle Dove |41 9 r58 9 Rook 775 50 845 49 Cuckoo 658 42 704 4l Carrion Crow | 302 83 t438 83 Swift 716 46 754 44 Raven t20 8 122 7 Green Woodpecker 3s8 23 406 24 Starling I r36 73 t273 74 Gt Spotted Woodpecker 362 23 458 27 House Sparrow 934 60 t04r 60 Skylark I r23 72 |220 7l Tree Sparrow il3 7 lzt 7 Swallow | 057 68 | 099 64 Chaffinch I359 87 1502 87 House Martin 577 34 609 3s Greenfinch 9t7 59 1050 6l Tree Pipit 108 7 il0 6 Goldfinch 776 50 826 48 Meadow Pipit 521 33 550 32 Linnet 794 5l 879 5l Yellow Wagtail r28 I 166 t0 Bullfinch 371 24 349 20 Grey Wagtail lt3 7 t44 8 Yellowhammer 814 52 891 52 Pied Wagtail 668 43 804 47 Reed Bunting 272 t7 300 t7 Wren I 346 86 | 520 88 Corn Bunting r52 t0 r40 8

Table 3. Speciesrecorded by the BBSin 1994-95in 51-100squares in at leastone of the years.See Table 2 for details.

Species t994 ,995 Species 1994 1995 %

Great Crested Grebe 433533 Sand Martin 54 3 81 5 Cormorant 8l 5 ill 6 Redstart 95 6 |26 Greylag Goose 503634 Whinchat 66 4 785 Shelduck 85 5 9t 5 Stonechat 52 3 624 Tufted Duck 976945 Reed Warbler 57 4 704 Red Grouse 835905 Wood Warbler 63 4 503 Golden Plover 8r s 76 4 Marsh Tit 88 6 il3 7 Redshank 594664 Willow Tit 63 4 553 Common Sandpiper 554463 (Hooded Crow) 73 5 704 Gt Black-backedGull 644674 Siskin 96 6 9t 5 Little Owl 664684 Redpoll 90 6 895 Tawny Owl 564603 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

Table 4. Speciesrecorded by the BBSin 1994-95in I -50 squaresin at leastone of the yea$. The tableshows the numberof squaresoccupied in eachyear. In all cases.tiese birds occur on fewer than 3% of surveysouares.

Species 1994 t995 Species 1994 1995 Species 1994 1995

Red-throatedDiver t3 tl Hobby 22 22 BlackTern I Black-throatedDiver I I Peregrine 26 22 BlackGuillemot I 2 Great Northern Diver I Ptarmigan 2 I (Rock Dove) 7 6 Little Grebe 28 37 BlackGrouse 5 t3 Ring-neckedParakeet 4 6 Fulmar t8 t8 Quail tl l7 Barn Owl tl t3 Gannet 4 I Golden Pheasant I 4 Long-earedOwl 2 3 Shag 6 6 Peacock- feral 2 I Short-earedOwl 9 a2 Little Egret I I Water Rail 3 3 Nightjar I 2 Whooper Swan 3 Corncrake I 2 Kingfisher 24 40 Pink-footedGoose 3 I Crane I Lr Spotted Woodpecker 28 7 Bar-headedGoose - feral I Avocet I 2 Woodlark 8 8 BarnacleGoose ; 4 Stone Curlew 3 2 Rock Pipit t0 il Snow Goose I Little RingedPlover 8 4 Dipper 33 37 Brent Goose I I RingedPlover 25 t9 Nightingale 26 25 EgyptianGoose 2 2 Dotterel Black Redstart 2 I MandarinDuck 5 8 Grey Plover : 3 RingOuzel 2l 20 Wigeon 5 6 Sanderling I Fieldfare t0 40 Gadwall t7 l5 Dunlin 23 28 Redwing 2 6 Teal t3 25 Ruff I Cefti's Warbler 2 4 Pintail JackSnipe I GrasshopperWarbler 40 46 Shoveler 9 Woodcock ; 9 MarshWarbler I Red Crested Pochard Black-tailedGodwit I 3 Dartford Warbler 4 3 Pochard ri t0 Bar-tailedGodwit I 2 Firecrest 7 I Eider 7 9 Whimbrel 20 2l Pied Flycatcher 36 37 Goldeneye 5 6 Spotted Redshank I Crested Tit I Common Scoter I 2 Greenshank tl t3 Golden Oriole I Red-breastedMerganser 7 7 Green Sandpiper 2 4 Red-backedShrike I Goosander 20 3l Turnstone 4 3 Great Grey Shrike I RuddyDuck 5 4 Arctic Skua I 6 Chough 3 5 Honey Buzzard I Great Skua 6 5 Brambling 3 3 Red Kite 9 t0 Little Gull I I Serin I Marsh Harrier 5 9 (Yellow-leggedGull) I Twite 24 74 Hen Harrier 5 9 Kittiwake 3 I Crossbill 37 l9 Goshawk 7 5 SandwichTern 5 4 Scottish Crossbill 2 Golden Eagle 6 7 Common Tern 29 35 Hawfinch Osprey 3 5 Arctic Tern 7 l0 Snow Bunting Merlin t0 tl Litde Tern I I Cirl Bunting

o1a 7r r',// cl /1 L -.Zq

-.-.;" t.r

l0 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

Table5 showsthe top twenty most widespreadand abundantbirds counted by volunteers. The Woodpigeonoccurs on the highestnumber of squaresacross the UK followed by Wren, Chaffinch,Blackbird, Cafion Crow and Robin. The averageBBS square held 15 Woodpigeon,I Wren, 8 Chaffinch,I Blackbird,7 Carrion Crow and 6 Robin. ln contrast the most abundantbird was the Starlingfollowed by Woodpigeon,House Spanow,Blackiid, Chaffinchand Wren. Theavenge counter records 15 Starling,15 Woodpigeon,15 HouseSparow,9 Blackbird,S Chaffinch and 8 Wren. It comesas no sulptise that the most widespreadbirds are alsothe most abundantones - nineteenbirds occur on both lists. Crows arewell repres€ntedwith Caflion Crow, Mag)ie andJackdaw all amongthe top twenty commonestspecies. Skylark, Song Thrush, and Linnet are also amongthe most alundant birds yet we know fiom the CBC that the populationshave been i[ seriousdecline over the last 25 years. A further goup of common birds, including Swallow,Starling and Blackb d give causefor conseffation concern becausethet populationshave shown signsof long-termdecline, though at a lesserrate than those speciesaboye. This illustratesthe point that the monito ng of apparently common birds is as every bit as valuableas monitoring the lare ones. The last 25 yeals have shown us how the commonestbirds may be susceptibleto dramaticdeclines - underlining the importanceof the BBS.

Table 5. Top twenty speciesfuom the BBSin 1q95 showingthe averagebird countson surueysquares. Distdbution is measuredas the number of squaresoccupied. Abundance is measuredas the total numberof birdscounted. The numbersin bracketsare the averagecounts across occuDiedsouares.

Most widespreod /l4ost abundont

Species Averoge count Ronk Species Average count

I Woodpigeon (ts) I Starling (22) 2 Wren (8) 2 Woodpigeon (ts) 3 Chaffinch (8) 3 House Sparrow (ts) 4 Blackbird (e) 4 Blackbird (e) 5 Carrion Crow (7) 5 Chaffinch (8) 6 Robin (6) 6 Wren (8) 7 BlueTit (7) 7 Carrion Crow (7) 8 Starling (22 8 BlueTit (7) 9 Great Tit (4 9 Jackdaw (e) r0 Dunnock (3 t0 Robin 6) tl Skylark (6 ll Skylark 6) t2 SongThrush (3 t2 Swallow s) t3 Magpie (4 t3 Greenfinch s) t4 Swallow (s t4 Linnet s) t5 Willow Warbler (4 t5 Magpie 4) t6 Greenfinch (s t6 Great Tit 4) t7 House Sparrow (ts t7 Willow Warbler 4) t8 Pheasant (4 t8 Dunnock 3) t9 Jackdaw (e) t9 Pheasant 4) 20 Yellowhammer (3) 20 SongThrush 3)

1t The Breeding Bird Survey Report 1994-1995

Between-year changes Theupper and lower confidence limits (UCL and LCL) on thechanges Thetracking of birdpopulations ftom year to yearis themain purpose indicatethe certaintythat can be attachedto eachchange measure. of the BBSand with two yearsof datacomputerised we cannow show The closerthe limits areto the change,the moreprecise that change the firstbetween-year changes from 1994to 1995(Table 6). Thetable measure.When the limits areboth positiveor both negative,we can showsthe percentagechanges in populationsizes of the commoner be 95%confident that a realchange, i.e. a statisticallysignificant change species(i.e. those listed in Tables2 and3), a positivechange indicates hastaken place. If theconfidence limits overlap zero there is no statistical an increase,a negativeone a deoease. Our aim in the medium-to evidencethat the populationhas changed either way. long-termis to examinepopulation trends over longerilme periods, The tableillustrates, first, the wide rangeof birds coveredby the becausethese are most meaningful, even so, if we limit ourselvesto the BBS,a totalof nearly100 species. With increasing BBS coverage across onebetween-year change we find interestingand sometimes unexpected the UK in the next few years,this figurecan only rise. A varietyof results. birdsshow significant changes between 1994 and 1995, and on balance,

Thble 6' Populationchanges of abundantspecies 1994- I gg5. Changemeasures were assessedusing a Loglinearmodel with Poissonerror terms, We usedthe meanspecies count from early and late counts for eachsquare (or the highestcount if fsquarewas only visited once in the breeding season).Counts were modelledas a function of squarcand year efiects. Eachobseruation was weightedto conect for the under-or over-samnline of BBSregions within the UK. Changeis the percentagechange between yeaN with irr lowerand upper95% confidence limirs LCL and UCi respectiYely.Only squaressuNeyed in both yeaff are includedin the analysis. Populationchanges are statisticallysignificant for thosespecies in bold type. The samplesizes are the number of squaresoccupied in at leastone of the years. Seetext for details.

Species Somple Chonge LCL UCL Species Somple Chonge LCL UCL

Great Crested Grebe 55 t8 -7 44 Pied Wagtail 814 2l t3 29 Cormorant t24 t5 -14 44 Wren | 250 t4 t2 a7 Grey Heron 451 2l 8 33 Dunnock t079 4 0 9 Mute Swan t40 -22 -43 -t Robin il93 tl 8 t4 Greylag Goose 75 t69 I t6 222 Redstart il6 3l il 5l Canada Goose 255 24 7 4l Whinchat 89 t6 -t0 42 Shelduck 93 8 -t3 30 Stonechat 69 57 26 89 Mallard 757 6 -l t4 Wheatear 249 32 t8 45 Tufted Duck n7 9 -t5 34 Blackbird 1226 -l -4 I Sparrowhawk 30s -t0 -29 9 SongThrush t06| -l -6 4 Buzzard 337 tl 0 22 MistleThrush 834 -6 -t5 2 Kestrel 586 -t6 -28 -4 SedgeWarbler 2t0 t4 0 79 Red Grouse 89 t3 -7 32 Reed Warbler 72 0 -23 23 Red-leggedParcridge 305 t2 0 24 Lesser Whitethroat 262 -t2 -3f 7 Grey Partridge 237 -t3 -33 7 Whitethroat 758 t3 7 20 Pheasant 917 0 -4 5 GardenWarbler 346 7 -7 2l Moorhen 454 tl I 2l Blackcap 755 6 -l t2 Coot r55 2l 5 38 Wood Warbler 70 -t9 -53 t5 Oystercatcher 202 -26 -37 -15 Chiffchaff 691 7 I l4 Golden Plover 89 -53 -95 -3t Willow Warbler 990 t6 a2 20 Lapwing 543 2l l2 3l Goldcrest 420 30 2l 39 Snipe 129 3 -21 27 Spotted Flycatcher 229 -17 -37 3 Curlew 372 4 -4 t3 Long-tailedTit s93 tl -l 23 Redshank 7l 4 -24 3l Marsh Tit r36 36 tl 5t Common Sandpiper 65 -27 -60 5 Willow tit 76 -24 -60 t2 Black-headedGull 444 tl -l 23 Coal Tit 465 4 -5 t3 Common Gull t40 7 -t5 28 Blue Tit | 147 I 5 t2 Lr Black-backedGull 361 3 -t0 t5 Great Tit llt2 5 0 t0 Herring Gull 376 -2 -14 t0 Nuthatch 248 6 -t0 2l Gt Black-backedGull 84 -t6 -46 t4 Treecreeper 284 t7 -l 35 FeralPigeon 468 -6 -17 5 lay 493 -25 -39 -14 Stock Dove 573 9 -l 20 Magpie I 008 -5 -9 0 Woodpigeon 1237 -tl -t4 -7 Jackdaw 879 5 -l ll Collared Dove 778 2 -4 8 Rook 827 2 -6 9 Turtle Dove t82 5 -14 24 Carrion Crow | 285 0 -5 4 Cuckoo 778 2 -7 t0 Raven t48 35 t2 58 Little Owl r02 -t7 -51 t7 Starling I 098 I 2 t3 Tawny Owl 89 -t6 -55 24 House Sparrow 9t0 3 -2 7 Swift 827 -9 -t8 0 Tree Sparrow 137 -3 -75 t9 Green Woodpecker 457 -t3 -25 -t Chaffinch 1236 -l -3 7 Gt Spotted Woodpecker 483 tl 0 23 Greenfinch 952 6 I t2 Skylark | 068 I -3 4 Goldfinch 856 -4 -t2 4 Sand Martin 88 52 24 8l Siskin il5 -25 -50 0 Swallow | 043 -17 -23 -tl Linnet 859 t5 9 22 House Martin 527 ,2 4 2l Redpoll il8 0 -24 24 Tree Pipit 129 -17 -39 5 Bullfinch 459 -17 -30 -3 Meadow Pipit 5r9 7 2 t2 Yeilowhammer 809 -8 -t3 -3 Yellow Wagtail 156 24 6 42 Reed Bunting 329 5 -7 t8 Grey Wagtail t62 23 -l 46 Corn Bunting t70 -5 -21 t0

l2 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995 mostare population gains. In fact,many BBS results are very similar to beenin declineand is of highconservation concern. The Bullfinch has thosefrom the CBC,with bothschemes indicating significant increases beenidentified as a speciesof highconservation concern on accountof in Wren,Robin, Whitethroat, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, and Goldcrest, severepopulation declines over the last 25 years. The continued but a declinein the Yellowhammer.Some of thesebirds appear to be downwardtrend is thereforeof greatconcern. The declineof the bouncingback from coldwinter weatherin previousyears, but the Yellowhammerappears to be a morerecent trend, first appearing in the increasesamong the warblersmight reflectbetter conditions on their CBC indicesin the 1990s. Of all the farmlandseedeaters, the migrationroutes or winteringgrounds. Some of the farmlandbirds also Yellowhammerhas held its own in theface of changingfarming practices faredrelatively well with significant,and encouraging,increases in but maynow be in decline.Future BBS data will tell us to what extent Lapwing,Stock Dove, Yellow Wagtail and Linnet, but continueddeclines this declineis continuedand over which areas. for Kestrel,Swallow, Bullfinch, and Yellowhammer.The long-term declines farmlandbirds yearsplaces of overthe lasttwenty them in a Country-based trends perilousposition and they remaina high priorityfor monitoringand conservationaction. One of the greatstrengths of the BBSis its abilityto provideregional Of course,the BBS covers many more habitats and birds than previous informationfor a rangeof widespreadspecies. Repeating the above schemes.Many birdswith westernand northerndistributions in the analysison a countrybasis demonstrates that manypopulation trends UK are well coveredby the BBSand this allowsus to seehow their alecommon across the UK, but there are a numberof interestingregional populationsfluctuate for the veryfirst time. differences.The resultsare preliminary and furtherwork is required to testwhether trends diffet signiflcantly between countries. One should alsoremember that samplessizes may be verysmall in somecountries Grebesto Gulls andso these trends may be lessreliable than those at a UK level. Numbersof Grey Heron,Greylag Goose, Canada Goose, Btzzard, Toa largedegree, population changes in Englandmerely reflect those Moorhen,Coot and Lapwing increased significantly from 1994 to 1995, for the UK, which is to be expectedas most data come fiom England. thepopulation change for GreylagGoose being particularly marked (Table Theonly differences are that English populations of Dunnock,Blackcap, 6). Populationsof MuteSwan, Kestrel, Oystercatcher and Golden Plover Jackdawand HouseSparrow show increases,while thoseof Grey all declined.The falling numbers of Kestrelis of particularconcern as Partridge,Lesser Black-backed Gull, GreaterBlack-backed Gull, Mistle theCBC has shown their populations to havedeclined steadily over the Thrush,Wood Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher and Rookshow declines. last25 years.The dramatic decline in the numberof GoldenPlover is The declineof Grey Partridgeand SpottedFlycatcher is worryingas of equalconcern. For GoldenPlover, and other waterbirds, changes thesespecies are of highconservation concern and have been in steady maybe complicatedby the presenceof migrantsor largeflocks close to decline.There are also a numberof birdswhere there is a UKtrend but thebreeding grounds. It isprobably too early to saywhether the trends nonein England.These include Buzzard, Kestrel, Oystercatcher, Sand areof glea[consequence but we mustremain vigilant and watch these Martin,House Martin, Meadow Pipit, Stonechat, Chiffchaff, Marsh Tit, birdsin futureseasons. GreatTit and Magpie. Whiie thesetrends are now non-significant, theyare mostly in the samedirection as those at UK level. Pigeonsto Woodpeckers For Scotlandand Walesit is easierto list thosespecies where the populationftends mirror those at a UK leveland then describeany Woodpigeonnumbers declined significantly between 1994 and 1995 anomalies.Scottish populations of MeadowPipit, Pied Wagtail, Wten, (Table6), althoughthey remain the mostwidespread species and one Robin,Stonechat, Wheatear, Willow Warbler, Goldcrest, Blue Tit, Raven, of the mostabundant (Table 5). Numbersof Swift and Green Starlingand Linnetall increasedsignificantly, while thoseof Kestrel, Woodpeckeralso declined and the reason for thesechanges are unclear. Oystercatcher,Golden Plover and Swallow declined. These trends are identicalto thosein theUK as a whole. In addition,Scottish populations Larksto Thrushes of LesserBlack-backed Gull, Sedge Warbler, Treecreeper, Rook, House Sparrowand ReedBunting all inceasedsignificantly between 1994 Therewere significant and relatively large increases for SandMartin, and1995. HouseMartin, Meadow Pipit, Yellow Wagtail, Pied Wagtail, Wren, Robin, Welshbirds also appear to be fluctuatingin synchronywith thosein Redstart,Stonechat and Wheatear. It is certainlyencouraging to see the UK. Welshpopulations of GreenWoodpecker, House Martin, thatthe latter three species are monitored by the BBSand a bonusthat MeadowPipit, Wren, Robin,Chiffchaff, Willow Warblerand Linnet they appearto be increasing.Increases in the numbersof martinsis wereall up, while those of Woodpigeonand Jay were significantly down. alsowelcome given concerns for the healthof theirpopulations. In Againthese trends are apparentat a UK level. In addition,Herring contrast,the numberof Swallowsfell significantly,and again,this is a Guil, GreatSpotted Woodpecker, Wood Warbler and Treecreeper speciesin long-termdecline. Future seasons will tell uswhether these increasedin Wales,but CollaredDove, Cuckoo and Starling declined. changesare maintained. Note that the lattertrend is actuallyin the oppositedirection to that shownat a UK level. Warblers to Flycatchers In the future,our aim is to producea regionalanalysis for Northern Irelandas well. With sucha smallsample size this is not possibleat Warblernumbers were generally up in 1995with significantincreases presentbut asthe number of squaresincreases across the UK,we shall forWhitethroat, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler and Goldcrest. These trends be ableto produceaccurate regional analyses for eachcountry. mirrorthose found by CBCas mentioned above.

Tits to Starling Curiously,numbers of Marsh,Blue and Great Tit, Ravenand Starling allincreased significantly, while populations ofJay and Magpie fell. The upturnin Starlingnumbers is welcome given long-term declines detected by theCBC. It mightbe that the BBS is monitoringmostly urban Starling populationsnever previously surveyed and that they are faringbetter thantheir rural counterparts. The smalldecline in Magpienumbers maycome as a surpriseto manyreaders, but recent BTO research shows theirpopulations to havelevelled off fromthe late 1970s. U,/, Sparrowsto Buntings .l '4,

\.; -/l r //', ', ' Greenfinchand Linnetnumbers were both up significantlyin 1995, ,'4rcf but thoseof Bullfinchesand Yellowhammer were down. The upward i lFrt ll / " trendfor the Linnetis mostwelcome as this is a farmlandbird that has 7t !.

13 The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

Hab:tat coverage Mammals An admirable,and mostencouraging, 99% of volunteerscompleted The responseto the trial mammalrecording in 1995was very habitatforms in 1994 and97% in 1995. It is mostimportant that encouragingwith 76%of BBSvolunteers taking part. Mostfieldworkers everysquare has a habitatform for eachyear surveyed so that changes were ableto find mammalson their squaresand only 7% recorded in landuse can be followedand their impactson wildlifeunderstood. noneat all. Pleaseremember to returna nil formif you didn'tcome Iustover half of the BBSsample is froma farmlandlandscape (Table 7), acrossany mammals - thisis still valuableinformation in its own right. reflectingthe factthat most of the UK is givenover to farming.Human A totalof 38 specieswere recorded, ranging from Orkney Vole in the sitesproved to bethe secondmost common land use, emphasising that northto CommonDormouse in thesouth. Rabbit was by farthe most suburbanand urban habitats are extremely widespread across the UK widespreadspecies followed by BrownHare and RedFox (TableB). andpresumably of considerablesignificance to our birds. A rangeof Someof the more interestingrecords include four squareswith Pine otherhabitats were covered by volunteers,including woodland, scrub, Marten,six with Otter,and fifteen with RedSquirrel. Records of Red heathand grassland- each of thesehabitats being of valueto certain Squirrelcame ftom the Isleof Wight,Cumbria, Northumberland and birdpopulations. One of the principleaims of the BBSis to ensurethat four regionsin Scotland. all habitatsare covered. That this hasbeen achieved emphasises the importanceof randomlyselecting the surveysquares.

TableT. Habitatcoverage in the BBSin 1994and 1995. Thetable Table8. Mammalrecording within the BBS1995. Thetable shows showsthe number(n) andpercentage (%) of.200 m transectsections the numberand percentage of squaresoccupied for the top 15 most fallinginto the majorhabitat categories in eachyear. widespreadspecies.

Hobitot type t994 t995 Mommol Number Percentoge o/o n n% n%

Farmland 8247 54.I 8906 54.0 Rabbit 949 73 HumanSites 2400 r5.8 2646 16.0 Brown Hare 487 37 Woodland |823 t2.0 | 969 I t.9 Red Fox 417 32 Heathland& Bogs I239 8.1 1294 7.8 Grey Squirrel 392 30 Grassland 765 5.0 798 4.8 Roe Deer 247 t9 Scrubland 350 2.3 384 2.3 Mole 89 7 Water Bodies 265 t.7 347 2.1 Red Deer 86 7 InlandRock 83 0.5 65 0.4 Badger 80 6 Coastal 53 0.3 84 0.5 MuntlacDeer 6t 5 Miscellaneous tl 0.1 8 0 FallowDeer 46 4 MountainHare 38 3 Stoat 34 3 Common Shrew 26 2 Hedgehog 24 2 Brown Rat 22 2

14 The Breeding Bird Survey Report 1994-1995

FOCUS Bird distributions UsingBBS data fiom 1995it is possibleto plotdistribution maps for is poorlyknown. Datafrom two distributionatlases covering 1968-72 eachspecies. Indeed, the extensivenature of BBSfieldwork produces and1988-91 show range expansion in theUK, most notably in builtup mapsthat are similarto the nationalatlas except perhaps, in the far areas.Friend or foe,the FeralPigeon needs to be monitoredand good north andwest where coverage is not comprehensive.The following coverageof HumanSites will allowus to keepa checkon this bird. four mapsillustrate particular distribution patterns and compare Preliminaryanalysis shows that 33%of all Blackbirds,40% of. extremelyfavourably with the The New Atlas of BreedingBirds Greenfinchesand Starlings, and an amazing 65% of all HouseSparrows, confirmingthe effectivenessof the BBSmonitoring sample. wererecorded from HumanSites in the BBS. Our villages,towns and With excellentcoverage in the southand east,the map for Turtle citiesare all actingas valuable habitats for a wide rangeof species. Doveshows its populationto be concentratedin theseareas. Turtle Birdwatchingin builtup areasmay not be as scenic as walking through Dovesare seldom recorded breeding outside England and this is borne the countryside,but quiteoften, greater numbers and more species are out by theirBBS distribution. seen,and results can be quitesurprising. With speciesas widespread as Meadow Pipit, it is perhapsuseful to lookat areaswhere it doesn'toccur in theUK. Thesetend to beurban Upland squares - hard work producing valuable data or suburbanareas, as well as lowlandregions in southand central Englandwith heavierclay soils. The highestdensities are found on Remotesquares often require a considerablejourney to reach,sometimes highetgtound to the northand west, it is veryencouraging to seehow longerthan the surveytakes to complete,and the diversityof birds well theseareas have been covered by the BBS. foundin theseareas may be low. However,a squarecontaining a handful In contrast,the Feral Pigeon is most common in urbanareas. Looking of MeadowPipits is as valuableas any other in the BBSas a whole. at the mapclosely, it is possibleto pickout conurbationslike London, Again,this habitathas been under-recorded in the past. Uplandbirds Manchester,Birmingham and Bristol. Thosedots in the far north and llke Buzzard,Red Grouse, Golden Plover, Meadow Pipit, Skylark and westmay well beRock Doves but thetwo formsare difficult to separate. Wheatearare all well represented in the BBS. While Meadow Pipit and Onecould probably guess the speciesfrom the Buzzarddistribution Wheatearshowed significant gains between 1994 and 1995, the Golden map.Their numbers increase rapidly westwards across England towards Plovershowed a largedecline. We look forwardto seeinghow their thesouth west and Wales. It is a veryscarce breeder in theeast except numbersare changing in theseprecious and vulnerable habitats in the in Scotland,where the speciesstarts spreading further east fiom its future. Restassured that we very much appreciatethe hardwork of strongholdin thewest. In fact,some'of the gaps in thewest are probably our volunteersin coveringthese ateas. gapsin coverage- we arekeen to encouragemore volunteers to take partin thewest of the UK. The future Our plansfor the futureare to buildupon the successwe haveachieved Human sites - undiscovered territory sofar by maintainingand developing BBS coverage across the UK. Our Walkingthrough a housingestate, or alonga mainroad in themiddle of targetof 2 3000survey squares is ambitiousbut we movea iittlenearer a city,may not seeman idealway to birdwatch. However,surveyors to it eachyear. This report demonstrates the breadthof informationwe workingin thesehabitats are providing extremely valuable information areable to gatherwith thepresent coverage. Increasing the number of thathas never been collected before. We have no wayof knowinghow squaressurveyed will increaseour abilityto providethe baseline importantthese areas are to our bird populationsso the BBSis again informationfor bird conservation. breakingnew ground. Thereis evidencethat Starlingand House Producingmeaningful results and providing feedback to volunteers Sparrow,for exampie,are declining across much of NorthernEurope. will remainhigh priorities. We will continueto presentupdates fiom Thisis matchedby CBCdata but we needmuch improved coverage of theBBS and promote the survey around the country when opportunities the UK to be sure. Indeed,BBS data show small population gains arise. We believeit is very importantto keepour volunteersfully between1994 and 1995,the changefor Starlingbeing statistically informedof progess.Each square helps us to builda comprehensive significant(Table 6). pictureof our breedingbirds. As such,we want to ensurethat every One of out mostfamiliar urban birds, the FeralPigeon is well volunteerrealises the value and importance of theirdata. Your support representedin the BBSsample, but in generalthe statusof thisspecies for BBSwill continueto be highlyvalued in futureyears.

t) The BreedingBird SurveyReport 1994-1995

SPECIALTHANKS Wales:Anglesey -Jim Cluk; Caernarfon-JohnBarnes; Brecon -John - Wewould like to thankall BBSvolunteers and Regional Organisers for Lloyd; Carmarthen JulianFriese; Cardigan- Wendy Oliver; Clwyd (east)- (west)- makingthe surveythe successit is today. Spacedoes not permitall LawrenceBaxter; Clwyd PeterWellington; Glamorgan (west)- (mid - Baker; observersto beacknowledged individually, but we wouldlike especially Dave Hanford;Glamorgan and south) Colin Mertoneth- PeterHaveland; Gwent - StephanieTyler; Montgomery' to thankthe RegionalOrganisers for their efforts.Regional Organisers - at the time of writing are: BraytonHolt; Pembrokesh[re-Graham Rees; Radnorsh[re Pete Jennings. BBS Regional Organisers Channel Islands: ChannelIslands - Ian Buxton. - - England: Avon JohnTully; Bedfordshire Phil Cannings;Berkshire- - Chris Robinson;Birmingham tt WestMidlands -Jim Winsper; Northern lreland: Co Antrfm MichaelRobb; Co Armagh David - Knight;Co Down - AlistairMcllwain; Co Fermanagh-vacanL; CoDerry Buckinghamshire-David Hughes;Cambridgeshlre Roger Clarke; - Cheshire(mid) RoyLeigh; Cheshire (north & east)-Clive Richards; SeamusBurns; Co Tyrone-Philip Grosse. Cheshire(south) - Colin Lythgoe;Cleveland - RussellMcAndrew; Cornwall- Matt Southam;Cumbria (north) - John Callion;Cumbria Many thanksalso to the followingROs who haveretired during the (south)- Ian Kinley;Derbyshire (north) - Oly Biddulph;Derbyshire lasttwo yearsand contributed significantly in developingBBS in their (south)-Dave Budworth; Devon -John Woodland (temporary cover); respectiveregions: Bedfordshire - Errol Newman; Borders- Malcolm Dorset-vacant; Durham DavidSowerbutts; Essex (north-east)-Peter Ross;Buckinghamshire- futhur Brown; Cornwall-Peter Williams; Dwyer; Essex(north west)- GeoffGibbs; Essex (south) - Maurice Dorset- RogerPeart; Herefordshire-Keith Mason; Kirkcudbrighf - Joan Adcock; Gloucestershire- Rob Purveur;Hampshire - Glynne Evans; Howie; Merseyslde-Tom Giles;Norfulk (northeast) Andy Lowe; Herefordshrre-Steve Coney; Hertfordshlre - Chris Dee; Huntingdon Perthshire- RonYoungman. etPeterborough - Bob Titman; Kent - GeoffreyMunns; Lancash[re (east) - Tony Cooper;Lancashlre (north-west) DaveSharpe; Lancashire FURTHERREADING (south)- DavidJackson; Lelcestershlre & Rutland- Jim Graham; L[ncolnshire(east)- Rob Watson; L[ncolnshtre (north)- Ian Shepherd; Carter,S.P. & GregoryR.D. (1994). Keeping track of ourbreeding birds. L[ncolnshfre(south) Richardand Kay Heath;L[ncolnshlre (west) - BTONews 190: 12-13. JohnMighell; London & Middlesex- DerekColeman; Manchester- Gibbons,D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman,R.A. (1993). The New Atlas of JudithSmith; Merseys[de - David Glasson; Norfolk (north-east)- Moss BreedingBirds in Britainand Ireland: 19BB-1991 . T. & A.D.Poyser, Taylor;Norfolk (north wesri Mike Barrett;Norfolk (southeast)- Paul London. Gallant;Norfolk (south west) - VincentMatthews; Northamptonsh[re- Greenwood,J.J.D. (1993). Random Sampling: Getting the numbers right. Phil Richardson;Northumberland Tom Cadwallender; BTONews IBB: 11-13. Nottinghamsh[re LyndaMilner; Oxfordshire(north) - Michael GregoryR.D. & Baillie,S.R. (1994). Evaluation of samplingstrategies Pritchard;Oxfordshire (south) - PeterAbbott; Rugby - DavidPorter; for I km squaresfor inclusionin the BreedingBird Survey.BTO Shropshire- Allan Dawes; Isles of Scilly-Will Wagstaff;Somerset-Eve ResearchReport No. 13Q.Thetford (BTO). Tigwell;Sta,ffordshire (central) FrankGribble; Staffordshlre (north) - GregoryR.D. & Baillie,S.R. (in press).Survey design and sampling Alan Hancock;Staffordshire (south) - PeterDedicoat; Suffolk - Mick strategiesfor breedingbird monitoring.Proceedings of the 13th Wright;Surrey- Hugh Evans;Sussex- Barrie Watson; Warw[ckshire InternationalConference of the EuropeanBird CensusCouncil, JoeHardman; Isle of Wght-JamesGloyn; Wltshire (north) JeanWilder; Estonia,1995. Wiltshlre (south) - Andrew Carter; Wirral - Kelvin Britton; GregoryR.D., Baillie, S.R & Bashford,R.l. (in press).Monitoring Worcestershlre- Harry Green; Yorksh[re(north-wesf/ - Malcolm breedingbird in the UnitedKingdom. Proceedings of the 13th Priestley;Yo rks hire (north) - JohnEdwards; Yo rkhire (H arrogate ) - Mike InternationalConference of the EuropeanBird CensusCouncil, Brown; Yorkshire(East Yorkshlre) Dave Porter; Yorkshfre (north east) Estonia,1995. - SydCochnne; Yorkshire(Bradford) - Mike Denton; Yorksh[re(York) GregoryR.D. & Bashford,R.l. (1995). Results fiom the 1994Breeding PeterHutchinson; Yorkshire (Leeds tr Wakefield)- Terry Dolan; BirdSurvey. BTO News 201: 14-15. Yorkshlre(south west)GeotrCarr; Yorkshire (south east)- Chris Falshaw. GregoryR.D. & Carter,S.P. (1993). Breeding Bird Survey takes to the aft.BTO News 189: 1. - Isle of Man: Isle of Man PatCullen. GregoryR.D. & Carter,S.P. (1994). Results fiom the Pilot Census Project. Scotland: Aberdeen,Kincardine & Deeside- PaulDoyle; Angus-Ken BTONews 194: 12-13. Slater;Argyll (northtt Mull) Mike Madders;Argyll (south)-vacant; GregoryR.D. & Carter,S.P. (1995). Breeding Bird Survey:fourteen Arran- vacant;Ayrshlre - vacant;Islay, Jura & Colonsay-Malcolm hundredsquares and still counting. BTO News 196: B-9. Ogilvie;Benbecula& The Uists- Paul Boyer; Borders- vacant; Cafthness Hume,R. (1995).Ups and Downsin the Bird World.Birds. Spring - vacant;Central Scotland- Neil Bielby;Dumfries- Richard Mearns; 1995:20-24. Fife& Kfnross-Norman Elkins; Inverness -Hugh Insley;Kirkcudbrlght Marchant,J.H., Hudson, R., Carter,S.P. & Whittington,P.A. (1990). (BTO). -vacant;Lanark, Renfrew & Dunbarton- JohnSimpson; Lewis & Harris Populationtrends in Britishbreeding birds. Tring - ChrisReynolds & AlistairPout (jointly); Lothian- George Smith; Moray Marchant,J.H. (1994).The new BreedingBird Survey.Brltish Birds & Nairn- Bob Proctor;Orkney- Colin Corse;Perthshire Bobby 87:26'28. Sommerville;Small lsles (Rum, Eigg, Muclg Canna)-Bob Swann; Ross- shire- AndrewRamsay; Shetland - DaveOkill; Skye Rogerand Pat Cottis;Sutherland - vacant; Wgtown - GeoffSheppard.

Forfurther Information,please contact: The CensusUnit, BritishTrust for Ornithology,The NationalCentre for Ornithology,The NunneryThetford, Norfolk IP24 ZPU Tel0lB42750050 . Fax01842750030 Registeredcharity no 216652

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