THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 1 ● high concern | ● moderate concern | ● least concern | ● non-native or occasional visitors Wigeons by Oliver Smart (rspb-images.com) Smart Oliver by Wigeons Contents Headlines .....................................................................................................................................................................4 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................7 Features Wild bird indicators ................................................................................................................................................ 8 UK breeding bird abundance ...........................................................................................................................10 Survey updates ......................................................................................................................................................14 New European breeding bird atlas ...............................................................................................................18 Species’ trends Common and widespread birds ....................................................................................................................22 Scarce and rare breeding birds .....................................................................................................................27 Seabirds ....................................................................................................................................................................32 Wintering waterbirds ..........................................................................................................................................36 Countries Wales .........................................................................................................................................................................40 Scotland ....................................................................................................................................................................52 Northern Ireland ................................................................................................................................................... 58 England .....................................................................................................................................................................64 UK Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies ..............................................................................70 About this report Current and planned surveys .........................................................................................................................76 Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................78 Who we are .............................................................................................................................................................79 This report should be referenced as: Throughout this report, all bird species are shown in bold and Burns F, Eaton MA, Balmer DE, colour-coded according to their conservation status, as published in Banks A, Caldow R, Donelan JL, Birds of Conservation Concern 4 (BoCC4). Douse A, Duigan C, Foster S, Frost T, Grice PV, Hall C, Hanmer HJ, Harris SJ, Johnstone I, Lindley P, McCulloch N, Red – 67 species identified as being of the greatest Noble DG, Risely K, Robinson RA, conservation concern. Wotton S (2020) The state of the UK’s birds 2020. The RSPB, BTO, WWT, Amber – 96 species of moderate concern. DAERA, JNCC, NatureScot, NE and NRW, Sandy, Bedfordshire. Green – 81 species of least concern. Not assessed – Non-native species and those that only occur as occasional visitors to the UK. ● high concern | ● moderate concern | ● least concern | ● non-native or occasional visitors 2 THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 3 ● high concern | ● moderate concern | ● least concern | ● non-native or occasional visitors Buzzard, house sparrow, fulmar and red-legged partridge by Shutterstock, cuckoo Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com) • Volunteers are vital for conservation Buzzards Volunteers play an essential role in bird monitoring in the UK, by donating their time and expertise. The data they collect are vital for conservation, advocacy and are increasing 19 policy development. Thank you to all those involved. in all UK 32% • 19 million pairs of breeding birds lost since late 1960s countries Cuckoos are of albatross and except Wales million New figures from the Avian Population Estimates Panel (APEP) suggest that there declining in petrel species in fewer pairs of are 83 million pairs of native breeding birds in the UK. This is 19 million pairs fewer than when widespread monitoring began in the late 1960s. This figure is similar to England, but the UKOTs and breeding birds in that presented in The state of the UK’s birds 2012, based on the previous APEP increasing in CDs are at risk of the UK compared report, suggesting that, in terms of total breeding bird numbers, the period of relative Scotland global extinction to the late 1960s stability that began in the 1990s is continuing. • Albatrosses and petrels face global extinction Despite significant conservation successes, around a third of all albatross and petrel species found in the UK Overseas Territories (UKOTs) and Crown Dependencies (CDs) are at risk of global extinction due to fisheries bycatch and predation by introduced mammalian predators such as mice. • Species’ trends vary across the UK This year, we present country sections in this report for the first time. These highlight variation in species’ trends across the UK. For example, cuckoos are increasing in Scotland but declining in England, very likely due to the loss of food resources in more intensively managed lowland environments. House sparrows 92% are increasing strongly in Wales but have declined in England, whereas the Welsh increase in buzzard population hasn’t seen the increases found in other countries. house sparrows • 57 million birds released for shooting in Wales from The size of the non-native bird population increases over 10-fold in the 1995 to 2018 late summer, when an estimated 57 million captive-reared pheasants and red-legged partridges are released for shooting. Headlines● high concern | ● moderate concern | ● least concern | ● non-native or occasional visitors 4 THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 THE STATE OF THE UK’S BIRDS 2020 5 ● high concern | ● moderate concern | ● least concern | ● non-native or occasional visitors RSPB (rspb-images.com) Introduction The state of the UK’s birds (SUKB) report is a comprehensive reference for bird trends in the UK, providing up-to-date results from annual, periodic and one-off avian surveys. Since 1999, these reports have The critical role provided an overview of the status of bird populations in the UK and its Overseas of volunteers Territories and Crown Dependencies. We In each edition of SUKB we highlight present trends for as many of the UK’s the vital role expert volunteers play regularly occurring species as possible. in bird monitoring and it is a great opportunity to thank everyone for their In SUKB 2020, our first report since valued contributions. This year, many 2017, we combine the latest population monitoring schemes have been affected estimates (published in 2020 by the by the global Covid-19 pandemic, and Avian Population Estimates Panel) with we want to say thank you to volunteers trend information, in order to examine If you’re both for the fieldwork that was possible how bird numbers have changed over and for their patience and understanding interested in time. We present results combined for when field visits could not be made. all native breeding species, as well as getting involved If you are interested in getting involved individual species. in monitoring, we highlight current in monitoring, opportunities on pages 76–77. 2020 was a critical year for biodiversity see page 76 conservation, during which countries around the world assessed their The SUKB partnership progress towards the current set of conservation goals, the Aichi targets, SUKB 2020 is produced collaboratively David Woodfall (rspb-images.com) and began developing new plans for the by three NGOs, together with the UK’s future. In the 2020 edition of SUKB we statutory conservation bodies: present 10-year trends for all species • Royal Society for the Protection of for which they are available, allowing Birds (RSPB) us to examine how the UK’s birds have • British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) fared during the period the UK has been • Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust attempting to meet the Aichi targets. (WWT) • Department of Given the devolved nature of Agriculture, conservation in the UK, for the first time Environment and Rural in SUKB we present short sections Affairs, Northern Ireland about each of the four UK countries. (DAERA) These sections give space to explore • Joint Nature the different patterns of species’ change Conservation Committee in each country and to show the variety (JNCC) of ways that species’ monitoring data • Natural England (NE) are being used to influence policy and • Natural Resources Wales (NRW) Volunteers play conservation action. • NatureScot a crucial role in monitoring the UK’s