bto annual review 2014

September-October 2014/ Issue 311 A look at the work and strategy of the British Trust for Ornithology

2014

ORNITHOLOGY

VOLUNTEERS

SURVEYTRACraptorsRESEA

AGRICULTURE

CONSERVATION

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HABITATS Bird

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PARTNERSHIP

The BTO’s influence comes from partnering enthusiastic

and skilled volunteers with our professional scientists. Through

structured surveys, and fieldwork targeted to answer specific

questions, we are able to collect high quality data that can

then be turned into policy-relevant products. Two recent

pieces of work, both relating to the Wetland Bird Survey

(WeBS), provide good examples of how this approach can

deliver independent and objective outputs.

Earlier this year, the BTO presented a report in

Westminster to inform the Airports Commission’s evidence-

based approach to a decision on future UK airport capacity

– specifically the proposed Thames Estuary Airport. Data from

WeBS and other sources were used to assess the numbers

and distribution of birds within the area of the proposed

development. BTO scientists also reviewed the ability of bird

populations to respond to the loss of habitat associated with

such a large-scale development. Our impartial evidence made

it clear that, should the development go ahead, compensatory

habitat sufficient in scale and quality would be unlikely to

be delivered. Our independent report was widely welcomed

by all sides of the debate. It is, for example, important that

industry should have access to impartial information early in

the development process, enabling them to determine the

likelihood of success or failure of their plans.

Making the findings of our monitoring and research

more generally available as easily accessible and useful

products is equally important. We recently launched

WeBS Report Online, a stunning new interface providing

access to a wealth of information on waterbirds (see

pages 10–11). The interface delivers a broad range of

information to decision-makers, NGOs, birdwatchers and

Government, enabling users to extract the information

they want on the status and populations of UK

waterbirds.

What these two examples show very clearly is the

power of BTO’s contribution to decision-making, which in

turn can help to ensure a more wildlife-rich and healthy

environment for all. It is our collective contribution,

as skilled volunteers in the field and researchers back

at our offices, that makes the difference. This Annual

Review contains many more examples of our recent

achievements, geared to the best use of our scientific

knowledge of birds and other wildlife.

BTO Annual Review | 20142

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

WELCOME FrOM Andy CLEMEnts, CEO

CONTACT USBTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU

Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .01842 750050Facsimile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .01842 750030Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . www.bto.org

BTO Scotland, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Cottrell Building, University of Stirling, FK9 4LA

Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01786 466560Facsimile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .01786 466561Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

BTO Cymru, Thoday Building, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd, LL57 2UW

Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .01248 383285Email . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . [email protected]

The BTO promotes and encourages the wider understanding, appreciation and conservation of birds. Registered Charity no. 216652 (England & Wales) no. SC039193 (Scotland)

Patron HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT

President Chris Packham

Chairman Tony Fox

Honorary Secretary Neil Bucknell

Honorary Treasurer John Osmond

BTO PRODUCTIONEditors Su Gough & Mike Toms

Editorial Board Ieuan Evans, Viola Ross-Smith

Layout, design, imagesetting and typesetting O’Connor Design Consultants

Printing Reflex Litho, St Helen’s Way, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 1HG

The views expressed by the contributors to this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Council of the BTO or its committees. © BTO 2014. Quotations should carry a full acknowledgement.

2015 BTO MEMBERSHIP

Individual . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £33Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .£43Life . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £825Fellow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £55Family Fellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £65Life Fellow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . £1,375

Monthly membership subscriptions also available.

Fellows receive Bird Study journal.

All membership subscriptions due 1st January and run for the calendar year.

2014Annual reviewBTO News 311/September–October 2014

Annual review of the British trust for Ornithology ISSN 0005 – 3392

When you have finished with this magazine, pass it to a friend or recycle it.

“Through structured surveys, and fieldwork targeted to answer specific questions, we are able to collect high quality data that can then be turned into policy-relevant products.”

Inside this special issue of BTO News

Making a difference

Eagle eyesMonitoring birds of prey in Scotland

Making data workHow Bird Atlas 2007–11 data are reaching new audiences

scientific research in 2013 & 2014Three fascinating findings from recent BTO papers

Wetland bird populations come aliveFantastic new resources as WeBS report goes online

northern Ireland’s seabirdsBringing together seabird research around Northern Ireland

It’s all about the weatherClimate change consequences can be unexpected

training: what’s it all about?The who, where and why of coming on a training event

The BtO in numbersSpecial pull-out summarising the BTO’s work

2014 | BTO Annual Review 3

COntEnts

separating the ‘hoo-weet’ from the ChiffMentoring new nest recorders

People powerVolunteers make key projects possible

scientific research in 2013 & 2014More insights into the breadth of BTO climate change work

BtO Accounts 2013/14How your support makes our work possible

PartnershipsWorking with other organisations brings new opportunities

Corporate supportBusinesses and BTO come together to stimulate new research

A year in BtO Cymru 2013–14News from one of the regional offices

The BtO in printSnippets from recent research papers

Acknowledgements & BtO partners

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Eagle eyes

Unfortunately raptors are far from

universally popular and have a long,

chequered and ongoing history of

‘conflict’ with man. Many raptor species

remain scarce or vulnerable to ongoing

environmental change and illegal human

activities. This makes BTO’s contributions to

raptor monitoring, and the objective advice

that we provide, all the more important.

In the 2012 Annual Review we reported

on the BTO-led work to develop methods

for producing population and breeding

performance trends for Scottish raptors

as part of our role in the Scottish Raptor

Monitoring Scheme (SRMS; see box). Since

its launch in 2002, the SRMS has produced

a manual of good practice, published annual

reports, and contributed data to underpin

planning decisions, nature conservation

management, research studies and raptor

conservation frameworks. Despite these

successes, and the massive contributions

from the Scottish raptor monitoring

community, the SRMS still faces substantial

challenges if it is to realise its full potential

for raptor conservation. During 2014, funding

was secured to allow the Scheme’s first

full-time coordinator to be appointed. Part

of the coordinator’s role will be to improve

knowledge of how survey coverage varies

between areas and years. This will allow

more rigorous population information to be

produced and will ensure that real changes

in raptor populations can be distinguished

from changes in monitoring effort.

If there is one group of birds that deserves the term ‘iconic’ it is surely raptors. Their power and majesty have firmly embedded their imagery in popular culture and, for many people, a glimpse of a bird of prey makes their day.

Coverage is currently patchy, particularly

for species such as Buzzard, Sparrowhawk

and Kestrel, which are widespread but

have recently undergone substantial

population changes. Improvements in our

understanding of survey coverage would

allow us to define more clearly the causes

and consequences of these changes. There

are other developments in the pipeline

too. An online recording system will make

it easier for raptor surveyors to submit

records and log their survey effort, while

enhanced training opportunities will help

volunteers who are keen to develop their

raptor monitoring skills. The SRMS also

aims to broaden the types of monitoring

currently being undertaken, building on

initiatives like the Hen Harrier Winter Roost

Survey (currently administered by BTO

Scotland, in partnership with the Hawk &

Owl Trust, and by Chris Rollie of Dumfries

and Galloway RSG for Scotland). Monitoring

raptor populations in winter is more difficult

than during the breeding season. However,

increased winter monitoring would inform us

about bird numbers and distributions during

a season in which survival and condition

can strongly influence population trends.

Together with existing elements of the SRMS,

these new initiatives will hopefully contribute

to the development of coordinated raptor

monitoring in other parts of the UK.

Periodic national surveys of individual

raptor species are valued by conservation

practitioners, including RSPB and the

statutory conservation agencies. These

surveys provide enhanced estimates

of population size and change, to

complement the information from annual

monitoring. In 2014 it was the turn of

the Peregrine, following the last UK-wide

survey in 2002. Since the post-war decline

to around 350 pairs, caused principally by

organochlorine pesticides, the UK Peregrine

population has recovered substantially. The

species has colonised many lowland areas,


The eight SRMS partners are: Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH); the Scottish Raptor Study Group (SRSG); British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Scotland; Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB Scotland); the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC); the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP); the

Scottish Ornithologists’ Club (SOC); and Forestry Commission Scotland (FCS). The SRMS is currently funded by SNH, BTO, RSPB and FCS, with additional in-kind support from all eight partners. After supporting the SRMS for more than 10 years, its first Raptor Monitoring Officer, Brian Etheridge,

retired in 2014, and the Scheme now has a full-time Scottish Raptor Monitoring Coordinator, Amy Challis, employed by BTO Scotland on behalf of the partners. More information on the SRMS and its outputs can be found at: www.scottishraptorstudygroup.org/srms.html

The ScoTTiSh RapToR MoniToRing ScheMe (SRMS)

helped by an increasing tendency to nest

on man-made structures. However, Bird

Atlas 2007–11 shows that these lowland

gains contrast with declines in some

upland areas. The 2014 survey set out to

improve understanding of these regional

differences and to provide robust, up-to-

date population estimates. To carry out the

survey, BTO worked closely with the SRSG

branches, BTO RRs, RSPB and hundreds of

dedicated volunteers. As well as monitoring

known breeding sites, a new study design

was introduced, with participants also

looking for Peregrines in randomly selected

5-km x 5-km squares. This will help to

reduce the distorting effects of regional

variation in survey effort and will ensure

that population estimates are scientifically

robust. In total, at least 1,200 random

squares were surveyed across the UK,

representing between 10 and 20% of

each survey country or contributing region.

The final results of the survey will be

submitted as a peer-reviewed paper and

will inform the design of future monitoring

programmes and help to inform Peregrine

conservation strategies.

So, with the help of many hundreds of

volunteers and in close collaboration with a

range of partners, BTO is working in a number

of ways to ensure that the highest quality

information is available on raptors to inform

conservation. Why does that matter? Raptors

can undoubtedly be of value as indicators of

ecosystem health and for the opportunities

they present for wildlife tourism. Many

people, however, simply enjoy having

birds of prey above and around them.

Keeping tabs on their populations will

help to ensure that they continue

to grace our skies.

Facts Figures

&

22

30,000 km2

RAPTORS

The number of birds of prey (16 Red Kites and six Buzzards) found in one of the worst single cases of illegal raptor killing revealed in recent years (in Ross-shire in 2014). Post-mortems have suggested ‘ingestion of an illegally-held poisonous substance’.

The land area covered by the 5-km x 5-km random squares surveyed for the Peregrine Survey across the UK. In 2002, 1,530 Peregrine nesting ranges were estimated as occupied. The 2014 estimates are in preparation.

The number of nest sites or home ranges of raptors checked each year by more than 300 (mainly) volunteer raptor observers for the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme. The main contributors are members of the 12 branches of the Scottish Raptor Study Group. The scheme regularly receives information on 17 species (raptors, owls and Raven).

5,000


acknowledgeMenTS We are extremely grateful to the hundreds of volunteers who contribute to the raptor monitoring projects mentioned in this article and to all our partners in raptor work across the UK. We thank in particular our partners in the SRMS for their funding and support (see box), and funding contributors to the 2014 Peregrine Survey: SNH, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

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The breeding distribution of goshawk

has increased over the last 40 years, but high levels of illegal killing

in some areas have had a major impact.

Sparrowhawk nest


Opening up the atlas

A DATASET OF GREAT VALUEThe individual records that make up the

Bird Atlas 2007–11 dataset, coupled

with the summary detail on distribution

and abundance, provide an incredible

resource for researchers, birdwatchers,

conservationists and policy-makers. The

data will prove invaluable for a whole suite

of research work, much of it carried out by

BTO, and will help to steer conservation

priorities for many years to come. For

example, atlas data have a particular role

to play in research looking at range shifts

and in efforts to understand and model

the impacts of a changing climate. Much

of the BTO research being supported by

the ‘Beyond the Maps’ Appeal will focus on

climate change impacts, but we will also

be looking at the drivers behind declines

in upland bird populations and at how

birds use urban areas, the latter delivering

evidence-based recommendations for

improved management of urban areas for

wild birds.

It is not just BTO researchers and our

Bird Atlas 2007–11 partners that will

be making use of the data (see BTO

News 310 for an article on how this

research is progressing). A data sharing

agreement with RSPB means that atlas

data are already being used for ‘frontline’

conservation activities, like site and species

safeguarding, species recovery and reserve

management. Similar agreements with the

The publication in 2013 of Bird Atlas 2007–11 was the culmination of a huge amount of effort to deliver the 720 page book. But this wasn’t the only output; as this article reveals, the legacy of Bird Atlas 2007–11 reaches far more widely.

statutory conservation agencies ensure that

atlas data support policy discussions and

help to inform the decision-making process.

Our academic partners can utilise atlas data

in their own research, and there is also

a range of ‘data products’ – summarised

outputs from the atlas – that are now

appearing more widely.

DELIVERING DATA PRODUCTSThe Collins Bird Guide is the field guide

of choice for most British and Irish

birdwatchers. The development of an

electronic version – the Collins Bird Guide

App – brings the guide into the digital age.

Initially launched on the Apple platform

through developers Touchpress, the app

contains the text, maps and artwork from

the original publication. In addition, it

brings in sound clips of bird songs and

calls, videos and the distribution maps

from Bird Atlas 2007–11. These last two

features are offered as ‘in-app’ purchases,

allowing users to add all of the breeding

and winter distribution maps for just £1.99.

The addition of the maps also delivers

functionality that enables the user to refine

the list of species presented based on the

underlying atlas data. Delivering the data

from Bird Atlas 2007–11 into a product

like the Collins Bird Guide App, extends the

reach of the project and provides additional

income for the research work that is being

undertaken on the wider atlas dataset.

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The Collins Bird Guide App is not

the only place where the maps from

Bird Atlas 2007–11 feature. All of the

maps from the book, plus others that

did not make it in because of space

constraints, are available on the Bird Atlas

Mapstore (www.bto.org/mapstore). This

free resource also holds all of the maps

from previous breeding atlases and the

previous winter atlas. These maps, which

should be used in conjunction with the

published books to bring in vital detail

on methods and interpretation, provide

a one-stop shop for anyone interested in

where our birds occur and how patterns

of distribution and abundance have

changed over time.

A WIDER LEGACYOne of the big features of the Bird Atlas

2007–11 project was the online system

developed for data capture and validation.

The development of this system by the

BTO’s Information Services team not only

provided a web-based tool for this British

and Irish study but it also delivered a tool

for the 45 county atlas projects taking place

over a similar period. In fact this component

of the online system is still active; fieldwork

for the Clyde Tetrad Atlas 2007–14 project –

the last of those still collating and validating

records – finished this summer. In excess of

300,000 records have been collected by the

Clyde team and these are being validated

through the tools built into the Bird Atlas

2007–11 online system.

The uses to which data from the atlas

will be put are likely to be many and varied.

From academic research, through ‘frontline’

conservation outputs and on to the maps

that will appear in field guides and books

over the coming years, data from Bird Atlas

2007–11 will have tremendous reach. This

will be a truly fitting legacy for the efforts of

our volunteers, staff and partners.

“Much of the BTO research being supported by the ‘Beyond the Maps’ Appeal will focus on climate change impacts.”

ACkNOWLEDGEmENTS Bird Atlas 2007–11 was a partnership between BTO, BirdWatch Ireland and the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club.

1. RIChLY COLOURED The vast amount of information collected through Bird Atlas 2007–11 for species such as Goldfinch provides a unique perspective on the distribution and abundance of Britain and Ireland’s birds. This information is being used in many different ways, highlighting the power of volunteers to deliver data to a much broader audience.

2. A NEW WAY OF LOOkING The Collins Bird Guide App sets a new standard and is likely to become a defining product, used by birdwatchers and others wanting to access key informationon Britain and Ireland’s birds.

3. ALL mAPPED OUT making Bird Atlas 2007–11 data available to apps like the Collins Bird Guide is just one way in which your data are being made available to those who wish to use them.

Behind the ImageS…

BTO data sets are being used to investigate sparrow productivity Understanding seabird breeding failures

House Sparrows are conspicuous birds

that are still numerous enough to be found

chirruping away in many areas of the United

Kingdom, but their numbers have fallen sharply

in recent decades, leading to their inclusion

on the Birds of Conservation Concern Red

List. Declines are greater in urban than in rural

areas, and in eastern and south-eastern Britain

than in other parts of the country (where the

population is stable or increasing). In early

2014, scientists from the BTO’s Demography

and Garden Ecology teams published a

paper in the journal Bird Study, analysing data

collected by volunteers participating in Garden

Birdwatch (GBW), the Nest Record Scheme

(NRS) and the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS),

to investigate possible reasons underpinning

these trends.

The research focused on measures of

breeding performance. In keeping with

population trends, GBW data showed that

annual productivity was highest in Wales (1.45

fledglings per adult) and lowest in the east of

England (1.30 fledglings per adult), but that

there was no significant difference between

rural and urban areas. The regional difference

in GBW productivity was mirrored by NRS

data, which revealed that House Sparrow

clutch and brood sizes were significantly lower

in the east of Britain than in the west. The

number of breeding attempts per year and

Research led by BTO and funded by JNCC

shows that the UK’s internationally important

seabird populations are being affected

by North Sea fishing. Sandeels, which are

typically fished for use in animal feed and

fertilizer, are an important prey species

and the large fishery on Dogger Bank is

within the foraging range of many seabirds

breeding along our North Sea coast.

Under the European Marine Strategy

Framework Directive, the UK is legally bound

to ensure that human activities are kept at

levels consistent with ‘clean, healthy and

productive’ seas. Since many seabirds are top

predators, monitoring their populations can

give insights into the state of the wider marine

environment. As seabirds are long-lived and

can skip breeding seasons altogether when

conditions are poor, monitoring breeding

success can provide an effective and quick

way of assessing the impacts associated with

environmental pressures.

Scientists at BTO and JNCC explored the

large-scale patterns present within the

Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP)

data sets, using these long-term data to

develop indicators of breeding failure and

seabird abundance at breeding colonies.

The two indicators were significantly and

strongly correlated with each other, with the

post-fledging survival did not differ between

areas, so are not thought to contribute to the

regional variation in population trends.

The results suggest that the processes

driving regional differences in House

Sparrow productivity are likely to be complex,

operating over large spatial scales (e.g.

climatic processes or regional landscape

changes) but interacting with local factors

(e.g. habitat changes). The absence of

productivity differences between rural and

urban areas suggests other factors contribute

to the varying population trends between

these habitats, for instance differences in

food availability affecting adult survival. This

work demonstrates the role that large-scale

data sets, collected through citizen science

projects, can play in understanding the

drivers of population change. In this instance

the data collected by GBW volunteers

provide a measure of annual productivity,

complementary to a measure derived per

nesting attempt from NRS. Such information

is vital for determining and implementing

effective conservation measures.

Find OuT mOReFull citation: morrison, C.A., Robinson, R.A., Leech, d.i., dadam, d. & Toms, m. 2014. Using citizen science to investigate the role of productivity in House Sparrow Passer domesticus population trends. Bird Study 61, 91–100. doi: 10.1080/00063657.2013.874975

1. HoUSe Sparrow decline 2. all aT Sea


Scientific research in 2013 & 2014Here are three of the fascinating stories that have emerged from papers published by BTO scientists over the past year. Together they demonstrate some of the breadth of our work.

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Working to halt the continued decline of moorland birdsUnderstanding seabird breeding failures

British moorland habitats are a result of

management, in particular for sheep grazing

and the sport shooting of Red Grouse.

Moorland conservation may additionally be

shaped by financial payments made through

agri-environment schemes, using management

prescriptions to maintain, restore or enhance

particular components. While a suite of such

prescriptions has been widely taken up, there

has been an ongoing decline in moorland bird

populations.

BTO ecologists worked with ADAS UK and the

former Scottish Coal to examine the effectiveness

of moorland management over 10 years at a site

within the Muirkirk and North Lowther Uplands

Special Protection Area in south-west Scotland.

Management prescriptions advocated widely as

best practice for moorland birds were assessed,

including muirburn and cutting, grazing, legal

predator control and the restoration of hydrological

features.

Annual surveys were carried out and

compared against bird population trends for

moorlands derived from the BBS, additionally

accounting for factors such as weather. The

study’s authors expected that the breeding bird

community would increase in response to the

management prescriptions adopted, but this

was not fulfilled. Only two species increased

relative to the general trend for moorland and

one of these was Carrion Crow, a species that

was being actively removed as part of predation

control measures. Most species showed no

change or actually declined, and these decreases

were common across species with different

habitat associations, so a causal relationship with

the management changes appeared unlikely;

similarly an effect of disturbance was unlikely. It

is possible that the failure to effectively control

predators could have contributed to the inability

to achieve the principal objective of increasing

breeding bird populations.

Although this work was based on monitoring

the effects of management prescriptions

rather than a controlled experimental design, it

highlights the difficulties in establishing effective

management regimes to benefit moorland

birds. It also underlines a need to improve

our understanding of the factors that shape

moorland bird communities. Additionally, it raises

an important question about whether moorland

bird conservation can be effective where species

remain vulnerable to predation, and therefore

contributes to the wider debate on the future of

British uplands.

abundance indicator typically lagging behind

that for breeding failure by two to three years.

Investigating how sensitive these indicators were

to the impacts of fishing, the team found that

species with the greatest increases in breeding

failure over the study period were those most

sensitive to fisheries pressure. Levels of seabird

breeding failure were higher in years when a

greater proportion of the North Sea’s sandeels

was commercially fished. The study also found

that seabirds breeding on the UK’s western

colonies were faring better than those on the

North Sea coast.

The results confirm that monitoring seabird

breeding performance can reveal how these

species are responding to environmental

pressures before such changes become

evident at the population level. Detecting such

impacts as early as possible is vital, as the

management of the marine environment is

undergoing rapid change, with expansion of

offshore developments, the introduction of

Marine Protected Areas and modification of

fishing discards policy.

Find OuT mOReFull citation: Cook, A.S.C.P., dadam, d., mitchell, i., Ross-Smith, V.H. & Robinson, R.A. 2014. indicators of seabird reproductive performance demonstrate the impact of commercial fisheries on seabird populations in the north Sea. Ecological Indicators 38, 1–11. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2013.10.027

Find OuT mOReCalladine, J., Critchley, C.n.R., Baker, d., Towers, J. & Thiel, A. 2014. conservation management of moorland: a case study of the effectiveness of a combined suite of management prescriptions which aim to enhance breeding bird populations. Bird Study 61, 56–72. doi: 10.1080/00063657.2013.876615

2. all aT Sea 3. Managing THe UplandS


Behind the iMageS…1. HOuSe SPARROw deCLineS

data collated by ‘citizen scientists’ have highlighted regional differences in House Sparrow breeding performance, which may help explain population trends for this red-listed bird.

2. kiTTiwAke measures of breeding failure can provide an early warning of problems linked to fisheries operating in the north Sea. The SmP annually assesses both breeding numbers and success of the uk’s seabirds.

3. mOORLAnd management prescriptions are widely used to maintain, restore or enhance particular habitats, but it is important to assess how effective such measures are.


Wetland bird populations come alive

Monitoring waterbirds through the wetland bird survey (webs)The UK’s position on the western edge of

Europe places it on the major flyways for

a number of Arctic-nesting species. Large

numbers of waterbirds are attracted to our

shores, particularly during winter, by the

relatively mild climate and the extensive

areas of wetland habitat, making the UK of

outstanding international importance for

waterbirds. Keeping tabs on the numbers of

birds using these wetland habitats supports

conservation action and informs policy,

fulfilling our obligations under the Agreement

on the Conservation of African–Eurasian

Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA), which is part of

the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of

Migratory Species of Wild Animals.

None of this would be possible without

the efforts of the volunteers who participate

in WeBS and who contribute their records

to this partnership survey. Interpreting the

data that have been collected and making

them available to stakeholders are core

aims of the project. With so many data

available – WeBS started in 1947 and the

database contains counts amounting to

Do you know which of our estuaries support the most diverse communities of wetland birds, or which of our wintering wader populations have declined by at least a third over the last 25 years? As CHAS HOLT reveals, such information is now available through an online WeBS report, a new resource that opens up a wealth of data to a wider audience.

over 75 million waterbirds – and with

several different components sitting within

the wider WeBS project, there has been a

desire to use emerging web technologies

to open the data set up in ways that allow

different audiences to explore and utilise

the wealth of information available.

the developMent of webs onlineIn September 2012, a WeBS stakeholder

workshop was held at the BTO

headquarters in Norfolk. By bringing

stakeholders together it was possible

to assess how different groups and

organisations made use of WeBS data,

highlighting the sorts of developments

needed if we were to maximise the benefits

of WeBS outputs for all. Just 18 months

later, with the web development work

complete, WeBS now provides information

on the status of the UK’s non-breeding

waterbirds via an interactive interface

(www.bto.org/webs), driven dynamically

from the underlying database of waterbird

records.

A major benefit of the WeBS reporting

interface is the integration of the different

elements of WeBS in one place, with separate

tabs available for Numbers & Trends, WeBS

Alerts and Low Tide Counts. The functionality

of the report is further enhanced by the

ability to sort species taxonomically or

alphabetically, to arrange data columns in

ascending or descending order and to access

supplementary non-WeBS data at the click of

your mouse. The online interface features a

series of tutorials providing help for users to

navigate the portal and make best use of the

information available.

nuMbers and trendsThe main tab of the report, Numbers & Trends,

can be used to search by species or by site.

search by species

The Oystercatcher page from the ‘Numbers & Trends’ section of the report. search by site

A site-focused page, here The Wash, from the online report.

“A major benefit of the WeBS reporting interface is the integration of the different elements of WeBS in one place, with separate tabs available for Numbers & Trends, WeBS Alerts and Low Tide Counts.”

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There are separate pages for each species and,

whereas annual WeBS reports were formerly

restricted to showing only the most important

sites for each species over the course of the

most recent five years, the new interface

allows the user to scroll back and forth in time

and to view historical data – generating a more

interactive experience. All sites that surpass

thresholds for international and national

importance are denoted, and there are also

links to relevant external content. The species

pages offer the facility to filter the sites that are

shown by county and/or habitat. The county

filter represents a significant advance for county

bird clubs, many of which include WeBS

data within their annual county bird reports.

Separate graphs showing species’ population

trends in each county are also included.

Selecting by site provides access to non-

breeding waterbird information for all locations,

from large sites such as The Wash to smaller,

more unfamiliar wetlands. Until recently, the

latter tended not to feature within annual WeBS

reports; now all WeBS counters can now view

the annual maxima for the sites that they visit.

other features

Ireland Environment Agency) and can help

to direct research and investigations into

potential causes of population change

at different sites. Comparing site trends

with those at the regional and national

scales can identify local issues; these

comparisons are available within the Alerts

tab of the online report.

Feedback on the new report has been

very positive. The new format will reduce

future costs, speed up the reporting

of WeBS results and also provide the

opportunity to integrate further non-

breeding waterbird information in the

future. For example, we envisage that

the next Non-Estuarine Waterbird Survey

(NEWS), planned for winter 2015/16, will

be integrated into the system.

of the reportMost of the information provided under

Numbers & Trends is based on WeBS Core

Counts, which, at coastal sites, involve

counting birds close to high tide. However,

all the UK’s major estuaries are also

covered every few years at low tide as part

of the WeBS Low Tide Counts scheme.

The new report provides the facility to view

low-tide distributions and densities of all

waterbirds on these estuaries. Planned

developments to the system will increase

the interactive nature of this low-tide count

resource.

Every three years, WeBS assesses the

short-, medium- and long-term trends of

waterbirds at sites within the UK’s network

of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and

Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs)

to deliver WeBS Alerts. declines of 50%

generate a High Alert, while declines of

25% generate a Medium Alert. These

serve as warnings, providing an extremely

useful resource for the Country Agencies

(Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage,

Natural resources Wales and Northern

acknowledgeMents WeBS is a partnership between BTO, RSPB and JNCC, in association with WWT. We are particularly grateful for the investment provided by JNCC, which enabled the necessary IS developments for WeBS to deliver an online report, and for the efforts of the volunteers who collect the data on which the report is based.

a shake-up for webs: oystercatcher numbers in the uk have fallen by 14% since 1986/87 and there are 12 sites with internationally important numbers: all the detail is now available online. a paper report summarising the results and associated research is also produced.

Northern Ireland’s Seabirds

The coastline and loughs of Northern

Ireland provide important sites for breeding

seabirds. Rathlin Island, for example, situated

some 4 km from the north Antrim coast and

famous for its formidable basalt and chalk

cliffs, is designated a Special Protection Area

(SPA) because of its seabird populations;

the numbers of breeding Guillemots and

Razorbills are of particular importance.

Interest in the marine environment,

whether driven by commercial or societal

factors, has seen the development of

legislative frameworks, such as the European

Commission’s Marine Framework Strategy

Directive, and national legislation, such as

the Marine Act (Northern Ireland) 2013.

Such frameworks require high quality

biodiversity data to inform and support

political or legislative decisions and this is

where the monitoring of breeding seabirds

becomes important.

In February 2013, BTO appointed Kerry

Leonard to the role of Northern Ireland

Seabird Coordinator, a post funded by the

Northern Ireland Environment Agency. This

role provides a focus for the volunteers

working on Northern Ireland’s breeding

seabirds, bringing together the information

needed to support the assessment and

designation of Marine Protection Areas

(MPAs) and SPAs, and the consideration of

planning and development interests.

Just 12 months later the first Northern

Ireland Seabird Report (2013) was published

by BTO and the Northern Ireland Environment

Agency, where volunteer-collected data were

presented alongside those from a number of

environmental NGOs. The report also provides

the opportunity to highlight current seabird

research being undertaken in Northern Ireland

by both professionals and volunteers.

These initiatives, operating under the

banner of the Northern Ireland Seabird

Network, are about building the capacity

to collect the information needed and to

then share it with a wider community. New

volunteers are encouraged to get involved

in data gathering, and are given training

and guidance on seabird colony survey

The first Northern Ireland Seabird Report, for 2013, has just been published, bringing together a summary of what we know about our seabirds, as well as reports from seabird research being undertaken around the province.


The Seabird Monitoring Programme (SMP), a partnership of 19 organisations coordinated by JNCC, enables its partners to monitor the health of the marine environment and inform seabird conservation issues. Monitoring seabirds is important for a number of reasons:

seabirds are an important component of marine biodiversity in the UK, with approximately seven million individuals breeding;

seabirds are top predators and act as useful indicators of the state of marine ecosystems; seabirds are protected by European law and the UK has obligations to monitor and protect

populations; monitoring provides data which underpin targeted conservation policy development and action; the UK is internationally important for seabirds.

Year Nests sampled Chicks hatched Chicks fledged per pair per pair

2007 71 – 0.38 2008 67 0.70 0.67 2009 76 0.83 0.82 2010 65 0.88 0.88 2011 60 0.86 0.86 2012 50 0.78 0.76 2013 54 0.82 0.80

TABLE 1. The breeding success of Manx Shearwaters on Lighthouse Island has been monitored by Copeland Bird Observatory since 2007, by using study burrows. These consist of natural burrows which have been excavated outside of the breeding season and a concrete slab placed over the nesting chamber to allow easy access.

Why monitor SeabIrdS?

MaNx ShearWaterS on Lighthouse Island

1.

2.

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methodologies, to ensure that the data

collected are compatible with JNCC-led

datasets. Considerable effort has also gone

into ensuring that all seabird sites surveyed

are consistent with SMP (Seabird Monitoring

Programme) sites, and are registered with

JNCC – a useful exercise leading up to the next

national seabird census, planned for 2016.

By bringing so many regional data

together it has been possible to see some

interesting (even alarming) changes. The

Fulmar is a case in point. This is a ubiquitous

bird around the Antrim and Down coast,

giving the impression that all is well and yet,

across the sites surveyed in both 2000 and

2013, the Fulmar has shown a 59% decline.

The volatile nature of our Sandwich Tern

population is also dramatically revealed by

the report. Population swings from 2,500

pairs to 100 pairs from one year to the next

paint an erratic picture; the highest ever

number of breeding Sandwich Terns was

in 2005, at just over 3,000 pairs. This has

since reduced to the approximately 1,000

pairs recorded in 2013.

The decline and near-extinction of

Roseate Terns in Northern Ireland is also

evident; from the highs of 60–70 pairs in

the late 1980s to just two pairs in 2013, this

is a species that could be lost altogether.

however, a number of organisations are

working hard to try to increase the numbers

breeding in Northern Ireland by trying to

attract some of the Rockabill population

(near Dublin) northwards.

The 2013 report is also important for

highlighting the things we do not know.

Whilst some species are rather well-

monitored each year, others are not,

with real gaps in our knowledge of the

numbers breeding. The big gap that the

report highlights though is information

on productivity. Far too few of our seabird

species are monitored for productivity, and

we have learnt from this and other surveys

that we cannot assume that national data

accurately reflect regional fact. The collection

of more regional productivity data will

therefore be a priority over the next year or

two. Something for our volunteers to get

their teeth into!


1. fULMAr Although still a commonly seen breeding species around most of Northern Ireland’s coastline, as well as on the inland cliffs of Binevanagh, monitoring work reveals a decline.

2. MANx ShEArwATErS The sole Northern Ireland colony has been studied since 1954. recently, however, work by the Oxford Navigation Group has extended our knowledge through tracking technology.

3. SANdwICh TErN Birds from the inland, freshwater, colony breeding on Lower Lough Erne make long-distance foraging trips to secure food for growing chicks.

behind the IMageS…

3.


It’s all about the weather

In recent years meteorological records

have tumbled. Last winter, for example,

was the stormiest for 20 years; the spring

and early summer period of 2012 were the

wettest on record for England and Wales,

and the 2011 spring was the warmest seen

across the UK for 100 years. Such weather

events can have significant, one-off impacts

upon bird populations. For example, bird

ringers operating Constant Effort Scheme

sites demonstrated that 2012 was the

worst breeding season on record for many

migrants, including declining species such

as Willow Warbler and Garden Warbler. BBS

trends show that the exceptionally cold

winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 resulted

in significant declines in a number of small,

insectivorous passerines, notably Wren and

Stonechat, sensitive to cold winter weather.

Historically, many of the fluctuations in our

bird populations result from the impacts of

weather events of this type; think about the

declines that occurred in the mid-1960s

following the 1962/63 winter.

Longer-term changes in weather

patterns, such as those associated with

human activities, may have more profound

consequences for bird populations. The

examination of some of the BTO’s long-term

datasets (e.g. www.bto.org/birdtrends) shows

how, during the 1990s and 2000s, many

cold-sensitive species increased significantly

in abundance; Wren and Grey Heron are two

examples.

While the direct effects of changing

weather patterns (e.g. change in the severity

or frequency of unusual weather events)

can have significant long-term impacts on

population trends, recent research led by

BTO suggests that the impacts of climate

change on birds and other biodiversity will

be about much more than this. The results

of a review of the mechanisms underpinning

the impacts of climate change upon animal

and plant populations from around the

world, funded through the Cambridge

Conservation Initiative and involving a

range of collaborative partners (see www.

conservation.cam.ac.uk/collaboration/

Weather events and longer-term changes in weather patterns can have profound consequences for bird populations, so it is essential that we understand their impacts. As JAmes PeArce-Higgins and DAve LeecH explain, there is much we can learn from BTO datasets.

mechanisms-underpinning-impact-climate-

change-natural-populations), indicate that the

main way in which climate change will affect

populations is not through the direct impact

of weather, but through indirect effects

resulting from altered species interactions.

What do we mean by this? These species

interactions can include changes in predator

or prey populations, the impacts of disease,

or changes in the habitat which may make

species more or less vulnerable to predation.

A great example of this last mechanism

has been described by Thomas Martin in

the montane forests of the Sierra Nevada,

USA, where reductions in winter snow cover

have reduced the protection of understorey

woodland vegetation from winter browsing

by Elk. Increased levels of browsing have

removed understorey vegetation and

reduced the cover available to breeding birds.

With nests now more exposed, or restricted

to smaller areas of suitable cover, there have

been increases in the rates of nest predation,

resulting in significant long-term reductions

in many long-distance migrants, including

Orange-crowned Warbler and Virginia’s

Warbler, which favour these habitats.

Closer to home research has emphasised

how the impacts of climate change on

prey populations can indirectly affect the

birds that feed on them. This has been

demonstrated for certain upland birds, like

Golden Plover, where the soil invertebrates

(e.g. cranefly larvae) that they feed on

are vulnerable to drought. Hot summer

weather impacts on the invertebrates,

reducing the food available to the plovers

and lowering the survival prospects of

their chicks. Our globally important seabird

Looking at some weather impacts…1. VIrgInIa’s Warbler: Virginia’s

Warblers have declined in montane arizona, as less snowfall has increased elk browsing of vegetation, leading to greater nest predation rates and reduced breeding densities.

2. grey Heron: grey Herons are particularly sensitive to cold weather, as their food becomes difficult to find when water and mud freeze over. note the recent dip following the 2009/10 and 2010/11 winters.

1.

populations are also affected, for example,

where warming seas negatively affect sand-

eel abundance, quality and availability,

reducing Kittiwake survival and breeding

success. We are actively working to uncover

other examples such as these, additionally

collaborating with others in order to

understand in more detail how climate

change might affect the abundance and

availability of the different resources that

are so important to birds.

Although we’ve focused on the impacts

of climate change on individual species,

through time these impacts lead to

changes in species distributions and the

restructuring of ecological communities.

One of the strongest signals of climate

change is that of poleward range shifts.

This has been particularly exemplified by

birds like Little Egret, Dartford Warbler and

Nuthatch, whose range shifts are evident

in Bird Atlas 2007--11 data. New analyses,

funded through BTO’s ‘Beyond the Maps’

Appeal, are set to investigate these patterns

in more detail. The work may also enable

us to predict future changes, as our

understanding of climate change impacts

continues to develop. Linked to this, we

are also analysing BBS data to understand

more about the long-term impacts of

climate change on the assemblages of

species at particular locations.

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FInd out more

ockendon, n. et al. (2014). Mechanisms underpinning climatic impacts on natural populations: altered species interactions are more important than direct effects. Global Change Biology 20: 2221–2229

Pearce-Higgins, J.W. & green, r.e. (2014). Birds and Climate Change. Impacts and Conservation Responses. CUP.

2.

Dips in breeding population caused by severe winters have been followed by recovery within a few seasons.

Table 1. Grey Heron Population trend (with confidence intervals)

1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020

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16000

14000

12000

10000

8000

6000

4000

2000

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Training: what’s it all about?

We have been offering training courses

of one sort or another for more than 15

years, and the number and variety is

ever-increasing, but who comes on the

courses, and why? A wide range of people

come, is the answer. Everyone is looking for

something different and each leaves with

new skills, increased confidence and an

understanding of the various BTO surveys.

Spoilt for choiceThe ever-popular residential courses are

available in either Bird Survey Techniques:

an introduction to all the current BTO

surveys and Bird Identification: which covers

identifying birds by sight and by sound. Our

one-day workshops are almost bewildering

in their variety! Some offer a day of survey-

specific help or a more general introduction

to bird surveying whilst others take on an

element of bird Identification.

Who are the courSeS aimed at?Often people are put off getting involved with

surveys because they fear they are not ‘up to’

the challenge. This is far from the truth and

one of the main purposes of the courses is to

showcase each of the surveys, show what’s

involved and help everyone to choose the

survey best suited to them. Existing surveyors

can also benefit greatly from learning about

the background to their survey, answering

questions they may have about any aspect of

the fieldwork and discovering other schemes

that appeal to them.

help, there’S no courSe near me…We run courses around the country but

there is a limit to how many we can deliver

each year. We have run courses and

workshops at a large number of different

venues and the best are the ones that

offer good accommodation and facilities

for the participants and direct access to

great habitats and birds for the all-important

practical sessions. We stick with venues that

offer this. Consider travelling to a venue

which appeals for its range of species.

What’S in it for Bto?BTO only charges enough to cover venue hire

(not the trainer’s time or course admin). Why?

Simply, we need volunteers to take part in our

surveys. If we encourage, inspire and motivate

new participants, then we have done our job!

If, in the process, we have improved collection

of information, or increased the confidence

and accuracy with which species are

identified, that helps to ensure the continued

high quality of the data that we rely on from

our volunteers to power the vital research BTO

scientists do.

to find out more about any aspect of Bto training see the training pages on our website: www.bto/org/training

contact Su Gough, training officer, on 01842 750050 [email protected] for more information or to discuss the bespoke training which we are also able to offer.

Find out more about BTO

training opportunitiesMaking a profession out of it! BTO offers training to environmental professionals

The bird recording methods used by environmental professionals are based on protocols originally developed or regularly used by Bto. in some cases, those methods are now being used differently to their original purpose. Bto is uniquely placed to offer an overview of all these methods and their

strengths and weaknesses. understanding this is vital when, inevitably, the methods are adapted. add in a grounding in general survey principles, survey design, learning which method works in what situation and plenty of practical opportunities and you have the basis for a great two-day course.

You have probably heard about BTO training but, unless you have already had the pleasure of joining us on a course, you are possibly not sure what it entails, who it is aimed at and what you can get out of it. Su GOuGh explains further.

outdoor practical sessions are a vital and fun part of every training event – be it one-day workshops or residential courses. putting into practice what you have learnt is the easiest way to gain confidence.

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The real strength of the BTO is the

partnerships that exist between our members

and volunteers, and the scientists at our

offices who organise the surveys and analyse

the results. The sheer number of people who

support BTO through fieldwork is staggering,

as the infographic below illustrates. Of course,

the financial support that we receive is just

as important. The income that we receive

through memberships, legacies, donations

and other gifts allows us to carry out the

research most critical to conservation. By

working together in this way, we have proved

just how powerful a partnership we can

provide, delivering the impartial evidence that

supports conservation action and informs

policy decisions.

BTO Garden BirdWatch

Bird Ringing

BirdTrack

Woodcock Survey

Breeding Bird Survey

Winter Thrushes

Garden Bird Feeding SurveyGarden Wildlife Health

Nest Record Scheme

Nest Box Challenge

Wetland Bird Survey

Waterways Breeding Bird SurveyHeronries Survey

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The 1,317,000 hours given by volunteers to BTO surveys during 2013 is staggering, especially as this equates to £27.8 million of effort.

Adding up to something SPECIAL...


The BTO in numbersThroughout this Annual Review you will find facts and figures behind the stories. In this special centre section of the review we have pulled out some of the other amazing numbers that underline the contribution that volunteers make to the BTO.

THE BTO’S WORK SPECIAL PULL-OUT

Garden BirdWatch www.bto.org/gbwGarden BirdWatch monitors the changing fortunes of birds and other garden wildlife through its network of ‘citizen scientists’. Many birdwatchers and householders already keep simple records of the birds that they see using their gardens throughout the year. The collection of such information is incredibly useful and, if carried out in a systematic manner, these weekly observations of birds (or indeed other garden wildlife) can prove very valuable for researchers.

The long-term contributions of BTO Garden BirdWatchers have been significant, with 673 individuals sending in weekly records in each of the 19 years (1995–2013) over which the scheme has been operating. Each of the male and female icons above represents 50 Garden BirdWatchers, arranged by the number of years over which they have made contributions to the scheme. The darker the colour the more years for which records have been submitted. We are extremely grateful to all of our Garden BirdWatchers, who not only send in records but also support the project financially. The figure shows that participants who were active in 2013.

Garden BirdWatch long-term contributions — the stronger the colour the more years of records contributed

Other taxa records from Garden BirdWatch in 2013

All types of gardens

The most commonly recorded garden birds according to BTO Garden BirdWatch, based on the proportion of gardens from which the species was reported during January–March 2013. Colour indicates conservation status.

Common species


Proportion of sites providing each food type in 2013

Peanuts Seed Mix Sunflower Seed

Fat/Suets Nyger Seed Mealworms

BlackbirdBlue Tit

Robin

Woodpigeon

Dunnock

Great TitChaffinch

Collared Dove

House Sparrow

Goldfinch

Magpie Coal TitStarling

Greenfinch

Long-tailed Tit

Jackdaw

Wren

Carrion CrowGreat Spotted Woodpecker

Song Thrush

Siskin

Nuthatch

Blackcap

Feral Pigeon

Jay

It is not just birds that BTO Garden BirdWatchers record each week. This figure shows the number of gardens from which we received other wildlife records in 2013.

3,765

3,034

2,009

1,033

230 210 176

Mam

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Bum

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Dra

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Coc

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Hor

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Hum

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Every garden is different, so all gardens are welcome in Garden BirdWatch. We have more records from suburban gardens than rural and urban put together.

Urban Suburban Rural

34%61%5%


Some 21,602 BirdTrack volunteers have contributed 6.9 million submissions since the project was launched a decade ago. Of these, 66% are male and 34% are female. Then there are the records received from BirdGuides, bird clubs, bird observatories and county recorders, which are not shown here. 523 individuals have contributed more than 1,000 submissions and, of these, 26 have made more than 10,000 submissions.

BirdTrack submissions — the stronger the colour the more submissions

At 2 hours 12 minutes, the average time spent doing a BirdTrack list in September is 26 minutes more than in January.

Time spent in the field

Brünnich’s Guillemot: Portland Harbour, Dorset

34

Two-barred Crossbills: Lynford Arboretum, Norfolk

Little Bitterns: Ham Wall, Somerset

2013 rarities logged by BirdTrack observers

31

30 25

Ivory Gull, Patrington Haven (23 observers); Two-barred Crossbills, Broomhead Reservoir (22) and Pacific Swift, Trimley Marshes (19) also featured well.

BirdTrack is a free tool for birdwatchers to store and manage their records, while allowing us to use these to look at migration, movements and distributions of birds. It’s an exciting project – run in partnership between the BTO, the RSPB, BirdWatch Ireland, the Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and the Welsh Ornithological Society – that unlocks the value of day-to-day birdwatching records for conservation at local, regional, national and international scales.

From highlands to islands

The most widely recorded 150 species, according to the number of 10-km squares from which they were reported; coloured by BOCC Conservation Status.

Widespread species

Parrot Crossbills: Holt Country Park, NorfolkTop five counties — 2013

Nor

folk

High

land

Lanc

ashi

re

Suffo

lk

Kent

Common Scoter

Hen Harrier

Grey Partridge

Lapwing

Dunlin

Black-tailed Godwit

Whimbrel

Herring GullTurtle Dove

Cuckoo

Skylark

Tree Pipit

Yellow Wagtail

Ring Ouzel

Fieldfare

Song Thrush

Redwing

Grasshopper Warbler

Spotted Flycatcher

Marsh Tit

Starling

House Sparrow

Tree Sparrow

Linnet

Lesser RedpollYellowhammer

Red-throated Diver

Great Northern Diver

Little Grebe

Gannet

Little Egret

Whooper SwanGreylag Goose Wigeon

Teal

Mallard

Shoveler

Tufted DuckPink-footed Goose

Eider

Red Kite

Kestrel

Merlin

OystercatcherFulmar

Ringed Plover

Golden PloverJack Snipe

Snipe

Woodcock

Bar-tailed Godwit

Curlew

Redshank

Green Sandpiper

Common Sandpiper

Turnstone

Black-headed Gull

Common Gull

Lesser Black-backed GullGreat Black-backed Gull

Kittiwake

Sandwich Tern

Common Tern

Arctic Tern

Stock Dove

Barn Owl

Swift

Kingfisher

Swallow

Green Woodpecker

Sand Martin

PochardHouse Martin

Meadow Pipit

Grey WagtailDunnockGadwall

Redstart

Whinchat

Wheatear

Mistle Thrush

Whitethroat

Willow Warbler

Bullfinch

Reed Bunting

SparrowhawkCollared Dove

RobinBlackcap

Dipper

Hooded Crow

Little Owl

Greenshank

Goldeneye

Goosander

Garden WarblerGreat Crested Grebe

StonechatSiskin

PeregrineMoorhenCanada Goose

Mute SwanBlue TitSanderling

BlackbirdChiffchaff

GreenfinchChaffinch Jackdaw

Pied WagtailCommon CrossbillLittle Gull

Water Rail

RookHobby

Osprey

Magpie Great Spotted Woodpecker

Long-tailed Tit

Grey HeronRed-breasted Merganser

BuzzardWoodpigeonMediterranean GullRock Pipit

JayWaxwing

Shelduck

Short-eared OwlGreat TitGoldfinch

Shag

Wren Carrion Crow GoldcrestCootBrambling

CormorantPheasant Tawny OwlTreecreeperSedge Warbler

NuthatchRed-legged Partridge Lesser Whitethroat

Reed Warbler

Coal Tit

Raven

Rock Dove

Jan

Mar

Feb

Apr

SepOct

JulAugJun

Dec

Nov

May


In 2013, BirdTrackers logged 132,000 complete lists of

birds seen. These came from every 100-km square across

Britain and Ireland, the records submitted either online or through the BirdTrack App.

BirdTrack www.birdtrack.net

SPECIAL PULL-OUT:


BTO is working to understand why

populations of Cuckoos and many other

summer migrants are in decline. By bringing

together studies here in the UK with fieldwork

in Africa and new tracking technologies that

follow the birds on their migratory journeys,

we hope to provide the answers needed to

support conservation efforts to halt these

declines. Our use of satellite-tracking has

already revealed new information on the

routes that our Cuckoos use during migration

and identified the sites where they winter and

stopover to fuel up before crossing the Sahara.

Migration provides a powerful story for

wider engagement with the research needed

to identify why summer migrants are being

lost. While we tend to think of these summer

visitors as ‘our’ birds, most of them are only

here for a short part of the year. Our satellite

tags have revealed that a male Cuckoo

may spend just 15% of his year in the UK,

highlighting that we need to look across

political boundaries if we are to understand

the causes of decline.

Much of BTO’s work on migrants has been

funded through the generosity of individuals

– we have 1,842 Cuckoo sponsors, for

example – underlining the value of engaging

with a broad audience through television,

magazines and social media platforms like

Twitter and Facebook. If we can grow this

support and attract more ‘unrestricted’

funds, then we can do more of the research

that is important for understanding what is

happening to our birds.

Not only has the Cuckoo project delivered cutting edge science, it has also really engaged with a wider audience. ‘Chris’ the Cuckoo, named after BTO President, Chris Packham, has attracted lots of media interest. The infographic celebrating four years of tracking Chris (below), was hugely popular on Twitter.

Cuckoos making the HEADLINES...

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Tracking Cuckoos www.bto.org/cuckoosWe’ve lost over half the number of Cuckoos in the UK over the last 20 years. Since 2011, researchers at BTO have been satellite-tracking Cuckoos to find out why. We’ve already learnt lots from our tagged birds, which will to help save our Cuckoos, but there is still more to discover.


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Separating the ‘hoo-weet’ from the ChiffWhen Carl Barimore began working in the Demography Team he had never seen a Chiffchaff nest, let alone knew how to find one. Now he is one of a number of mentors helping others develop skills in finding and monitoring nests.

“Back in 2006 I wouldn’t even have

known where to look for a Chiffchaff nest.

I acknowledged the data submissions of

experienced nest recorders in awe, amazed at

the number of finch, lark and warbler broods

they located each season. How did they do it?

Could I do it? And, crucially, how long would it

take me to learn?”

It was veteran recorder and Tucker Medal

recipient John Brook who would provide the

answers. Taking me round his local patch the

following summer, he patiently explained

when, where and how I should search to

find the nests of different species. One of the

most memorable lessons involved following

a female Chiffchaff back to her clutch, located

in a pouch of coarse grass a few inches from

the ground. Her incessant ‘hoo-weet’ contact

call ceased the minute she sat back on the

eggs, pinpointing the location almost exactly.

I couldn’t wait to get back to my own

patch at Wicken Fen in Cambridgeshire to

see if I could locate a nest on my own; sure

enough, by putting John’s advice into practice

I was successful on the very first attempt.

Fast forward to 2014 and I’m now running

my own training courses, introducing new

Nest Record Scheme (NRS) participants

to the fascinating world of avian breeding

biology.

This abridged story of my own nesting

career hopefully illustrates two things: first,

it is possible to learn how to find nests in a

relatively short period of time and, second,

it’s all a heck of a lot easier if you’re shown

the ropes by an experienced nester. With

this in mind, the 75th Anniversary of the

NRS seemed like the ideal opportunity to

launch a formal mentoring scheme, whereby

existing recorders offer to accompany new

recruits in the field as they develop the skills

necessary for locating and safely monitoring

nests. Thus far, over 50 volunteers across

the country have signed up as mentors,

their locations visible to all on an online

map hosted on the BTO website which also

allows interested parties to get in touch with

them via email.

Of course, provision of training is only

useful if people want to get involved, and

signs are positive. A Focus On Nature, an

organisation providing networking and other

opportunities for young conservationists, held

a conference at BTO this spring which included

a short workshop on nest finding. Within a

few days Twitter was alive with tweets from

delegates, most in their early teens, proudly

displaying photographs of breeding attempts

that they were monitoring, including, you’ve

guessed it, several Chiffchaffs. I wonder how

many decades it’s been since a teenager

located and monitored a warbler nest?

Ensuring this vital skill, which makes a huge

contribution to our understanding of the factors

driving population trends, not only persists but

proliferates is a priority for the NRS over the

next decade and, as ever, our volunteers are

key to helping us achieve it. Mark Lawrence, nrS mentor from Devon

JoSh MarShaLL, new nest recorder from Devon

Find out more about the Nest Record Scheme: Visit www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs/taking-part/nrs-mentoring for information about the possibility of mentoring in your area. Go to www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/nrs/taking-part for a free nrS starter pack.

having someone experienced sharing their knowledge and enthusiasm through mentoring is one of the best ways to get to the heart of nest recording. here, Mike Toms shows how to inspect a Treecreeper nest with an endoscope.

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“Me and my good friends Mark Penney and Dave Scott have amassed many thousands of nest finding and monitoring hours together on Dartmoor. It would be a great shame to take this nest finding skill to the grave and so we, as a group, like nothing more than to meet, teach and encourage new nest recorders.”

“In 2012 I met Mark Lawrence and the Dartmoor team for some expert tuition on finding nests of Stonechat and other bird species that breed on the ground. The skills I learned gave me the grounding to begin my own Tree Pipit study on Dartmoor the next year, which resulted in nine nest records for BTO, almost 20% of the national total.”

People power

Research into wildlife disease has

largely been driven by recognition of

the threats to public health, livestock

production and species conservation from

emerging infectious diseases. The work

carried out around species conservation

has tended to focus on rare species,

typically restricted in terms of geographic

range or population size, rather than on

species perceived to be common and

widespread. We know, however, that

emerging infectious diseases can have

a pronounced impact on apparently

common species. Finch trichomonosis, for

example, first seen in British Greenfinches

and Chaffinches in 2005, is known to

have reduced our breeding Greenfinch

population from c. 4.3 million birds to c.

2.8 million over just a few years.

Information on the diseases and other

mortality causes seen in familiar birds is

often collected opportunistically, when

members of the public report animals that

appear unwell or which have been found

dead under suspicious circumstances.

While useful in their own right, such

reports do not provide information on

the incidence of disease among wider

populations, something that can only

come from systematic monitoring and a

network of observers drawn from across

the country. Establishing such networks

can be problematic but Garden Wildlife

Health, launched in 2013, shows what

Another area where our understanding

has really benefited from the partnership

between volunteers and researchers is

that of bat conservation. Being nocturnal

in habits, bats are usually monitored by

experienced recorders using handheld

detectors to identify the bats present at

a site. The lack of experienced surveyors,

coupled with the high cost of the

specialist detectors needed to identify

the bats, has limited our ability to collect

information on the distribution and

habitat use of bats at wider spatial scales.

The launch of a new project – the

Norfolk Bat Project, brainchild of BTO

Research Ecologist, Dr Stuart Newson –

has recently overcome these difficulties

by establishing a network of Bat

Monitoring Centres. Local volunteers

borrow passive bat detectors from these

centres, which they then deploy in a

standardised manner at sites across the

Collecting information on the wildlife that lives alongside us isn’t always straightforward but many of the gaps in our knowledge can be filled through the partnerships established between scientists and volunteers.

can be achieved by bringing together

experts from different fields and by

drawing on the support of wider

stakeholders and volunteers.

Central to Garden Wildlife Health is

a web application, built by BTO staff,

that allows observers to submit reports,

which are then reviewed by veterinary

researchers based at the Institute of

Zoology. Where a report indicates that

a carcass is available the researcher can

make a decision on whether or not to

request the carcass for post-mortem

examination, a process that makes

use of the interactive features of the

web application to alert the participant

to the request. Details from the post-

mortem (including photographs and

diagnostics) are then stored in the same

database that sits behind the online

system, allowing results to be passed

back to the participant. Participants in

BTO Garden BirdWatch also contribute

information on the presence and

absence of diseased wildlife from their

gardens on a weekly basis, information

that provides a systematic framework

around the opportunistic reports that

come in from a wider audience. The

scheme will highlight the emergence of

new diseases, chart the incidence and

distribution of others and, additionally,

provide information on other mortality

agents affecting our wildlife.


Managed by ZSL’s Institute of Zoology (IoZ), Garden Wildlife Health is a collaborative project between ZSL, BTO, Froglife and the RSPB. An evolution of the Garden Bird Health initiative (GBHi) and the Frog Mortality Project (FMP), it consists of a continuous survey

of the health of British amphibians, birds, hedgehogs and reptiles in garden habitats, contributing to better management of their conservation and the health of proximate people and domestic animals. The project is funded by the AHVLA Great Britain Wildlife

Disease Surveillance Partnership, which receives funding from Defra through the Scanning Surveillance Programme, and by the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Defra’s Strategic Evidence Fund and in-kind contributions from the project partners.

GARden WiLdLife HeALtH

KEEPING CHECK ON WILDLIFE DISEASE

GOING BATTY

county. Bats passing within range of the

detector are recorded on a memory card,

which is returned to Stuart’s research

team to be analysed. A report detailing

the bats recorded is then sent back to

the participants, while the raw data are

added to a database that now holds over

half a million recordings (the project only

launched in April 2013). The Norfolk

Bat Project is already delivering a huge

amount of new information, revolutionising

our understanding of bat distributions

within Norfolk. The project has been

recognised for its achievements within the

county and it looks set to provide a model

for what could be achieved countrywide.

What we want now is to make this project

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The Norfolk Bat Survey has logged 1,019 recordings of Barbastelle, a bat species formerly thought to be highly localised within Norfolk. These recordings come from 162 1-km squares, representing 36% of the county’s land area.

1,757 volunteers have contributed 2,459 reports to Garden Wildlife Health since its launch in 2013. In addition, 3,637 existing BTO Garden BirdWatchers have submitted information on disease incidence through their weekly counts.

At least 1.5 million Greenfinches have been lost since finch trichomonosis was first recognised in 2005, returning the British Greenfinch population to levels last seen in the mid-1980s and halting a 20-year period of population growth.

1.5million


AcknoWLedGeMentS Norfolk Bat Survey is led by BTO in partnership with those organisations hosting Bat Monitoring Centres. We are extremely grateful to the People’s Trust for Endangered Species and Natural England (Defra Fund for Biodiversity Recording in the Voluntary Sector) for providing start-up funding for this project and for the additional support given by the Norfolk Biodiversity Partnership, the Geoffrey Watling Charity and the many individual donors and supporters.

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sustainable over the next few years, which

needs investment. As a start, funding has

been secured (thanks to Essex and Suffolk

Water) to develop an online system for

coordinating detector bookings. Increasing

coverage and carrying out core analyses will

also be important areas for development as

the project moves forward.

BARBASteLLe: This red-listed species now appears to be localised, but widespread, in norfolk, occuring at low density. The 1,033 recordings of this species captured through this project represent just 0.2% of the total recordings received in 2013.

fincH tRicHoMonoSiS:

chaffinch and Greenfinch were the two species

whose populations were most affected by the 2006 outbreak of

trichomonosis, as Bto GBW and BBS data

revealed

Collaboration is the key to studying the effects of climate change across Europe Climate change impacts across years

Data collected by WeBS volunteers make an

important contribution to research looking at

effects of climate change on waterbirds. Counts

from across Europe, spanning 1980 to 2010,

were used to examine the responses of diving

ducks to changing winter temperatures. The

results of this collaborative work, which focused

on Goldeneye, Tufted Duck and Goosander,

were published in Global Change Biology.

The work was led by researchers in Finland,

where effects of climate change have been felt

particularly strongly. Early winter temperatures in

parts of Fennoscandia have risen by nearly 4°C

during the study period. Prior to recent decades,

wetlands in northern latitudes of Europe remained

frozen throughout the winter. However, during the

period examined in this study they have become

increasingly available to diving waterfowl in winter.

Tufted Duck, Goldeneye and Goosander have

all increased exponentially in Finland, while in

northern Sweden the total for all three species

combined has risen by over 80,000 birds.

Goldeneye numbers have increased by 4,320%

in Finland and 269% in southern Sweden.

However, a striking contrast is apparent at the

opposite end of the migratory flyway. Although in

Britain numbers of Tufted Ducks appear relatively

stable, neighbouring regions towards the south-

west end of the flyway have seen declines, with

decreases of 46% in France, 43% in Ireland and

39% in Switzerland, amounting to a net shift of

Migratory birds are likely to be particularly

vulnerable to climate change because they

can be affected by changing conditions on the

breeding grounds, wintering grounds or the

passage areas in between. Many long-distance

migrant birds that breed in the UK and winter

in Africa are in severe decline; previous BTO

work has shown this can be related to changing

conditions in Africa, which affect overwinter

survival, and to conditions on British breeding

grounds. Research by the BTO’s Population

Ecology and Modelling Team took this further

and considered the potential for changing

conditions in Africa to ‘carry over’ and affect

birds during the following breeding season.

Rainfall during the African growing season

is incredibly important for migrants that

winter south of the Sahara, as precipitation

controls vegetation growth and, therefore, the

abundance of herbivorous insects. Species

such as warblers, flycatchers and chats

rely heavily on berries and invertebrates to

survive through the winter and to fuel their

journeys back to the breeding grounds the

following spring. Using a unique dataset,

collected by volunteers contributing to the

Nest Record Scheme over a 46-year period,

BTO ecologists demonstrated that the impact

of African rainfall can indeed carry over and

influence the subsequent timing of nesting

in 19 migrant species, including Sand Martin,

104,000 wintering birds. Similarly, Goldeneye

numbers decreased significantly in Ireland and

Switzerland over the 30 years, amounting to a

loss of 12,000 birds from those two countries

alone. Recent shorter-term declines have also

occurred in Britain, France, and the Netherlands.

At the south-west end of the flyway used by

Goosanders, the wintering population has

declined markedly in the Netherlands, Denmark

and southern Sweden.

These findings are directly relevant to

conservation. Waterbird abundance is used as

designation criteria for wetland protection, for

example as Ramsar sites. New areas becoming

important for non-breeding birds risk not falling

into existing protected area networks. Conversely,

wintering waterbirds may increasingly retract

from sites further south and west in their ranges,

some of which were designated to protect them.

Protection throughout the entire flyway is vital

however; recent colder winters, particularly that of

2010/11, have demonstrated the importance of

ensuring protection of these sites as cold weather

refuges.

FinD out MoreLehikoinen A., Jaatinen K., Vahatalo A.V., Clausen P., Crowe o., Deceuninck B., Hearn r., Holt C.A., Hornman M., Keller V., nilsson L., Langendoen t., Wahl J. & Fox A.D. 2013. Rapid climate driven shifts in wintering distribution of three waterbird species. Global Change Biology 19, 2071–2081.

1. Climate Change and diving duCks 2. migRation in a Changing Climate


scientific Research in 2013 & 2014In the triptych below we review some more of the fascinating and diverse papers that have emerged from BTO work in the past year. These three papers cover different aspects of the Trust’s work on climate change.

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Protected areas for bird conservationClimate change impacts across years

Protected area networks, where several

sites are legally protected because of their

importance for particular species or habitats,

are one of the main conservation tools for

reducing biodiversity loss. However, it is unclear

how effective these networks might be as

the species and habitats for which they are

designated respond to climate change. This

question was tackled by BTO scientists and

published in the prestigious journal Nature

Climate Change, the result of an ambitious

project involving collaborators from universities,

government bodies and NGOs. The study

provided the most compelling evidence to date

that, while British bird populations are being,

and will continue to be, affected by climate

change, the network of sites established to

protect them under European law is resilient to

these changes and will remain so.

The UK is home to internationally important

populations of breeding seabirds and wintering

waterbirds. Sites holding particular numbers

of these species are designated as Special

Protection Areas (SPAs) under the EU Birds

Directive. Analysis of high quality data on

the abundance of 62 species of seabird and

waterbird, collected over 30 years, showed

that more than half of the population trends

during this time can be explained by climate

change. This information was used to predict

trends through to 2080, assuming an

average rise of 4°C in global temperatures,

and predicted population declines of at least

25% for more than half of species considered.

In some cases falls of more than 50%

were predicted. Species such as Arctic Tern,

Guillemot, Eider and Bar-tailed Godwit were

particularly badly affected. However, other

species, like Avocet and Common Tern, were

projected to increase in numbers.

These gains and losses have implications for

the designation of SPAs. However, although

many sites were predicted to lose qualifying

species as numbers dropped below the

necessary threshold, they were also expected

to gain other species, resulting in an overall

change in the composition of species protected

by a particular area. Such alterations highlight

the need for efficient administration and regular

assessment of the SPA network, so that it keeps

pace with bird population trends.

Swallow and Redstart. In general, species laid

their eggs earlier after wetter Sahel growing

seasons, suggesting that individuals were in

better condition and therefore able to leave

earlier, travel faster or produce clutches more

rapidly on arrival.

However, the importance of this effect

is relatively small when compared to the

impact of spring temperature on the breeding

grounds. This suggests that increasing

temperatures in the UK are largely responsible

for the observed trend towards earlier

breeding, even in long-distance migrants.

Warm springs are likely to stimulate early

laying as they advance leaf growth and,

therefore, the emergence of insects that birds

depend on to provision offspring; studies

have shown that a failure to track these

advances can have serious implications

for breeding success. Overall, this research

highlights the many factors determining how

migrant species are responding to climate

change, an understanding of which is vital

if we are to protect these birds and address

population declines.

FinD out MoreFull citation: Johnston, A., Ausden, M., Dodd, A.M., Bradbury, r.B., Chamberlain, D.e., Jiguet, F., Thomas, C.D., Cook, A.S.C.P., newson, S.e., ockendon, n., rehfisch, M.M., roos, S., Thaxter, C.B., Brown, A., Crick, H.Q.P., Douse, A., McCall, r.A., Pontier, H., Stroud, D.A., Cadiou, B., Crowe, o., Deceuninck, B., Hornman, M. & Pearce-Higgins, J.W. 2013. observed and predicted effects of climate change on species abundance in protected areas. Nature Climate Change 3, 1055–1061. doi: 10.1038/nClimate2035

FinD out Moreockendon, n., Leech, D. & Pearce-Higgins, J.W. 2013. Climatic effects on breeding grounds are more important drivers of breeding phenology in migrant birds than carry-over effects from wintering grounds. Biology Letters 9, 0669. doi:10.1098/rsbl.2013.0669

2. migRation in a Changing Climate 3. do pRoteCted aReas woRk?


Behind the images…1. DiVing DuCKS

goldeneye and other diving ducks are utilising new sites at northerly latitudes as the climate changes and waterbodies become available.

2. MigrAntS

Winter rainfall in Africa can affect migrant birds many months and many miles later as Bto research demonstrates.

3. ProteCteD AreAS

An ambitious collaborative study showed that europe’s network of sites designated for species protection will be resilient to climate change.

Summarised AccountS 2013/14Exceptional legacy receipts and the profit on sales of Bird Atlas 2007–11 resulted in an operating surplus for the year of £643k. The principal funding sources continued to be research and surveys (£2,532k), membership and communications (£1,226k), and trading and consultancy (including Bto Services Ltd turnover) (£979k). Appeals raised £345k, and £853k was received from legacies. A total of £4,665k was spent during the year on carrying out, supporting and communicating ornithological research. There was a gain of £30k in the market value of investments, in line with the general rise in the stock

market, but an actuarial loss of £821k in the pension scheme, due to further weakening of bond yields.

The trustees have an unrestricted free reserves target range of 9 to 12 weeks’ operating expenditure. These reserves are held against any unexpected falls in income or other unforeseen circumstances. unrestricted funds excluding tangible fixed assets and the pension fund liability at 31 March 2014 totalled £1,667k, of which £53k is committed to existing Bto-funded projects, and £600k is earmarked for pension deficit repair payments, leaving free reserves equivalent to 8.9 weeks’ expenditure.

2013/14 2012/13 (£'000) (£'000)Incoming resourcesGeneral donations 149 157

Appeals 345 400

Legacies 853 230

Trading and consultancy 979 764

Royalties and copyright 99 120

Other income 141 51

Membership and communications 1,226 1,141

Research and surveys 2,532 2,183

Total incoming resources 6,324 5,046

Resources expendedCosts of generating voluntary income 224 174

Costs of activities for generating funds 754 575

Membership, volunteers and communications 1,182 1,173

Research and surveys 3,483 3,039

Governance costs 38 41

Total resources expended 5,681 5,002Defined benefit pension scheme closure - 1,111

Net incoming resources 643 1,155Other recognised losses -791 -412

Net movement in funds -148 743Total funds brought forward 1,056 313

Total funds carried forward 908 1,056

Represented by:Fixed assets 1,737 1,684

Net current assets 1,507 1,163

Other creditors -25 -22

Pension fund liability -2,311 -1,769

TOTAL 908 1,056

BTOAnnualReview | 201426

Bto Accounts 2013/14Council aims to build on our successes in diversifying our income and growing unrestricted income, in order to continue to deliver relevant, independent, quality science that is synonymous with BTO.

The way in which we are funded is changing, with income from individuals playing an ever increasing role in supporting the work we undertake. Through membership, donations, appeals and legacies, individuals have contributed an amazing £2.5m to our income this year. This represents 40% of our total income and exceeds the restricted income of £1.7m from Government/public sector contracts. The benefit of this contribution from individuals does not stop there, it also enables partnerships with other nGo’s to deliver collaborative projects like the Wider countryside Butterfly Survey and opens doors to other sources of income. As we continue to grow our fundraising capacity this added value will grow in importance; we frequently use contributions from our supporters to access grants from a range of sources. In some circumstances this match funding has been key to securing such grants; grants from natural Resources Wales, Environment Wales and the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation enabled the setup and ongoing operation of our Welsh office, for instance.

Our raffles are a great way of securing funding for a project. For example, £10,000 from the raffle in 2010 was used to access a grant from BBC Wildlife to kick-start our Cuckoo-tracking project.

IncoMInG RESouRcES(£’000)

0

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4,000

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2013/14 2012/13

Incoming resources (£'000)

General donations

Appeals

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Trading & consultancy

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Other income

Membership andcommunicationsResearch and surveys

General donations

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0

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0

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General donations

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Other income


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0

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2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13


General donations

Appeals

Legacies



Other income


Membership & communications

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13


General donations

Appeals

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Other income

Membership andcommunicationsResearch and surveys Research & surveys

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13

Resources expended (£'000)

Costs of generatingvoluntary income

Costs of activities forgenerating funds

Membership, volunteersand communications

Research and surveys

Governance costs

Costs of generating voluntary income

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13






Governance costs

Costs of activities for generating funds

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13






Governance costs

Membership, volunteers & communications

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13






Governance costs

Research & surveys

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

4,000

5,000

6,000

7,000

2013/14 2012/13






Governance costs Governance costs

2013/14 2012/13 2013/14 2012/13

RESouRcES ExpEndEd (£’000)

These summarised accounts have been extracted from the trust’s annual accounts. They may not contain sufficient information to provide a full understanding of the financial affairs of the trust. For further information, the full accounts, the auditor’s report and the council (trustees’) Report (incorporating the Strategic Report) should be consulted. These are available on the Bto website (www.bto.org/about-bto/accounts) and hard copies are available on request from the director of Services, Bto, The nunnery, Thetford, norfolk Ip24 2pu.

We have examined the summarised financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2014 set out above. The council Members are responsible for preparing the summarised financial statements in accordance with applicable united Kingdom law and the recommendations of the charities SoRp. our responsibility is to report to you our opinion on the consistency of the summarised financial statements with the full annual financial statements and the council (trustees’) Report (incorporating the Strategic Report). We also read other information contained in the summarised annual report and consider the implications

The annual accounts were approved by council on 2 July 2014 and have been submitted to the Registrar of companies, the charity commission and the office of the Scottish charity Regulator. The accounts include the auditor’s report which is unqualified and does not contain a statement either under section 498(2) of the companies Act 2006 (accounting records or returns inadequate or accounts not agreeing with the records and returns) or section 498(3) (failure to obtain information and explanations).

for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the summarised financial statements. In our opinion the summarised financial statements are consistent with the full annual financial statements and the council Annual Report of The British trust For ornithology for the year ended 31 March 2014.LoVEWELL BLAKE LLpchartered Accountants and Statutory AuditorBankside 300, peachman Way, Broadland Business park, norwich, nR7 0LB31 July 2014

2014 | BTOAnnualReview 27

Facts Figures

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300

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Individuals contributed £2.5m to Bto last year, which is 40% of our total income. This money is vital in enabling our core surveys and our own priority research.

our members are extremely loyal to our cause, we have over 300 members who have supported us for over 50 years and a further 4,000 with over 20 years’ membership.

A conservative estimate of the monetary value of the staggering 1.36 million hours gifted by volunteers each year is £27.7m.

By signing up to giftaid your support makes an even greater difference; we received £114,000 in the year on your subscription fees. So, if you are a uK tax payer add another 25p for every pound you give by adding giftaid.

£27.7m

£114,000

‘Birds are important to us and we’ve had so much pleasure from watching them it’s good to give something back. Besides, bird surveys really are fun!’

toM & MuRIEL cAdWALLEndER, MEMBERS And REGIonAL REpRESEntAtIVES FoR noRthuMBERLAnd

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Governance costs

0

1,000

2,000

3,000

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2013/14 2012/13






Governance costs

IndependentAuditor’sStatementToTheMembersOfTheBritishTrustForOrnithology

FurtherInformation

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7,000

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We are greatly indebted to our members and volunteers for their generous support. here are some facts to demonstrate just how important you are to the financial working of Bto

Harnessing the power of TV to bring our message to the masses Quantifying the role of birds in providing ecosystem services

Over recent years we have gathered

feedback from our members,

supporters and partners through a

range of different surveys aimed at

improving our services. One of the

areas that our supporters feel we

should continue to develop is our public

profile. “You do great work but not

enough people know about you. You

need to shout louder” is a typical quote

from such surveys. One of the ways in

which we can deliver on this demand

is to grow our relationships with high

profile radio and television programmes,

broadcasting our messages into the

homes of millions of people at a time.

We’ve enjoyed a particularly strong

partnership over recent years with the

teams delivering BBC Springwatch and

Autumnwatch.

In addition to providing ideas

and advice to the excellent crew of

researchers, producers and presenters,

we have also enjoyed considerable

success through the use of social media

during the shows. By tweeting during

broadcasts we can both support the

programmes by providing relevant

supplementary information and help

to answer any queries raised by

items in the programmes. By taking

this approach, we’ve enjoyed record

numbers of new people choosing to

follow us on Twitter and we additionally

benefit from the BBC Twitter teams

helping to broadcast our messages

to their huge communities. This year

BTO featured prominently on the

programmes, with lead features focusing

on our President, Chris Packham,

searching for Chris the Cuckoo, and

on Dave Leech’s community Blackbird

project, which makes use of colour-

ringing. While it is difficult to measure

the value of this exposure, we are in no

doubt that a close working relationship

with the BBC is helping to take our work

to new and wider audiences.

BTO has an active role in three of the

four Biodiversity & Ecosystem Service

Sustainability (BESS) projects. BESS is a

major six-year Research Council initiative

to assess the role of biodiversity in

delivering the key ecosystem services

on which we rely. Each of the projects

brings together ecologists, environmental

scientists, economists, social scientists

and local stakeholders to consider a

particular habitat or landscape, including

urban centres and estuaries.

One example is BTO’s contribution

to the Diversity in Upland Rivers for

Ecosystem Service Sustainability project.

Led by Cardiff University, DURESS

brings together a consortium of 30

researchers from a range of disciplines

and institutions and focuses on four river

ecosystem services that are biodiversity-

mediated: regulation of water quality;

regulation of decomposition; fisheries

and recreational fishing; and river birds

as culturally valued biodiversity. Each

is at risk from climate and land-use

change. During the summer of 2013 a

BTO field team carried out bird surveys

along the rivers, looking at characteristic

riverine birds such as Dipper and Grey

Wagtail, but also species inhabiting

the riparian woodlands which may rely

on emergent aquatic insects. Over last

winter, we’ve collected Dipper droppings

and feathers which will be analysed to

assess main sources of diet, exposure to

a pathogen and genetic diversity. These

results will be considered alongside

analyses of long-term biodiversity

datasets, experiments manipulating, for

example, rates of litter decomposition

in streams under different conditions,

and surveys of the values that different

stakeholders attribute to different

ecosystem services. Find out more at:

www.nerc-bess.net

2. BESS1. BBC Springwatch and Autumnwatch


PartnershipsWorking in partnership delivers huge benefits to BTO and enables us to engage with different communities and to share our own expertise with others. As these three examples reveal, these partnerships are diverse and far-reaching.

Chris Packham and BTO Staff Chris Hewson and Paul Stancliffe on the trail of Chris the Cuckoo in Suffolk on his return to the UK for a feature on Springwatch.

Long-running partnership brings in new nest recorders

The optics company Opticron has been

a firm friend for many years now and

we continue to benefit from a strong

working relationship with them. Over the

past few years they have supported our

work primarily through contributing to

membership offers and supporting our

presence at Birdfair.

More recently their support has

enabled us to invest in more advanced

camera equipment so that we can

broaden the range of videos we provide

via our YouTube channel. Opticron are

particularly keen to see their contribution

making a difference to the number of

people actively contributing data to

our long-term schemes, so in 2014

we directed their support towards the

Nest Record Mentoring Scheme. Our

experience with nest recording has

taught us that rather than investing in

a large number of introductory nest

recording courses, the most cost-

effective approach for recruiting new

volunteers is to deliver a smaller number

of small group or 1:1 sessions with

targeted individuals. In order to deliver

this across as wide a geographical area

as possible, we have recruited a number

of experienced nest record mentors and

the support from Opticron has enabled

us to equip them with some essential

equipment. The funding has also

enabled us to to set up a ‘find a mentor’

facility on the BTO website, putting

potential new recruits in contact with a

local volunteer.

A celebratory 75th anniversary meeting

held this spring served to promote the

mentoring scheme to existing volunteers

and, with everything now in place, we

are looking forward to a bumper year

of nest records in 2015. We are very

grateful to Opticron for their continued

support of our work. To find out more

about Opticron and their range of optics

visit www.opticron.co.uk

3. Working with OPtiCrOn


Facts Figures

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The number of 1-km squares covered in the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey in 2013. 374 of these were covered by BBS volunteers on their BBS 1-km squares. The scheme is run as a partnership between Butterfly Conservation, BtO and the Centre for Ecology and hydrology.

The number of volunteer regional representatives, assistants and Development Officers based throughout the UK who make our surveys possible. in addition to recruiting and managing volunteers, these super volunteers are BtO ambassadors, promoting our work across the regions.

is the sum achieved in raffle ticket sales and donations for the BtO raffle for 2013-14. Generous prizes were donated by the Bird Watching and Wildlife Club (BWWC) at the Grant Arms hotel, by Opticron and by CJ Wildlife. two years ago CJ Wildlife expanded their operation in Europe with Vivara and renewed their support for BtO by providing five sets of third-place raffle prizes, each worth more than £100, to the lucky winners.

128

£37,638.25

Small groups and mentoring have been shown to be most effective in recruiting volunteers for nest recording. Our partnership with Opticron has enabled us to run more of these small events.

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‘In addition to providing ideas and advice to the excellent crew of researchers, producers and presenters, we have also enjoyed considerable success through the use of social media during the shows.’

is the donation Essex and Suffolk Water made to the Cuckoo-tracking project for 2013, via their Branch Out fund, naming their Cuckoo in a staff vote after Ken Saul, a volunteer of more than 30 years standing at Burgh Common in norfolk where the Cuckoo was caught . Essex and Suffolk Water have been with the BtO since the launch of the project in 2011 and have maintained their much-valued support.

£10,000


BTO and business

PITCH PERFECTResearch should be exciting; after all, science

is about answering questions and increasing

understanding! So it shouldn’t come as a

surprise that BTO’s research staff have plenty

of ideas for pieces of work that might reveal

new insights into our bird populations and

their ecology. Funding sources for these

ideas are not always obvious, however, since

many fall outside of the funding streams that

support BTO’s core monitoring programmes,

this is where corporate support is vital. A

good example of how business support

can underpin innovation can be seen in the

relationship that we have been developing

with Mark Constantine, founder of The

Sound Approach (soundapproach.co.uk).

The work we have been doing with

The Sound Approach has also delivered

some additional benefits because of

the novel process developed to identify

projects for funding. The process begins

with an invitation to our research

By working with business BTO has been able to deliver innovative research projects, many of which originate as ideas put forward by BTO’s research staff. As EMMA DOUGLAS highlights, such collaborations provide new opportunities to support and develop emerging areas of our work.

scientists, asking them to put forward

project ideas that have the potential to

deliver new information, either through

the collection of new data or the

exploration of existing datasets; these

projects should align with the vision

of The Sound Approach. Each of the

project proposals is then peer reviewed

by colleagues to produce a shortlist of

ideas to be presented to The Sound

Approach, and it is from this shortlist

that a number of projects are selected

for funding. This approach opens up

opportunities for BTO researchers

from across the organisation,

secures engagement and generates

a competitive buzz, reinforcing the

message that exciting and worthwhile

science should receive support. As

the following examples reveal, support

from The Sound Approach has helped

to deliver some very different pieces of

work, from across the organisation.

TRACKING SWIFTS WITH GPS TAGS – CHRIS HEWSONThe Common Swift is declining as a

breeding bird in Britain but efforts to

understand the reasons for the decline

have been hampered by a lack of basic

knowledge about the bird and its ecology.

Swifts spend such a small part of their

year with us and we know very little

about their migration tracks, stopover

sites and wintering areas. We also know

surprisingly little about the foraging and

ranging behaviour of the birds breeding at

colonies here in Britain. Funding from The

Sound Approach has allowed us to use

newly-developed miniature GPS tags to

collect information with an unprecedented

degree of spatial accuracy. Each tag, five

of which were deployed in summer 2014,

is able to record some 300 locations

over the period of deployment. We have

been able to quantify the amount of

time spent over different habitats and to

establish the distances travelled from the

colony through short-term deployments

during the breeding season. Longer-

term deployments, with different tag

programming, will enable us to look in

much finer detail at migration tracks and

the use of stopover sites in West Africa

on spring migration. The accuracy of the

tags is so great (within 6 m for 50% of

locations) that we will be able to determine

the movements of the birds in relation to

frontal systems and other meteorological

features. This has significant implications

for their conservation, providing us with

knowledge that has, until now, been lacking. ON THE WING Using new technologies will reveal much about Swift ecology that has been hidden.

“Swifts spend such a small part of their year with us and we know very little about their migration tracks, stopover sites and wintering areas.”


LITTLE OWL PLAYBACK TRIAL – DAVE LEECHOver the last 40 years there has been a

significant and substantial decline in the

UK Little Owl population. It is difficult to

construct reliable population estimates for

this species because of its largely nocturnal

nature and relatively low population density.

The primary means of surveying Little Owls

is via the use of call playbacks, noting the

response of territorial birds to recordings

broadcast from a handheld device at pre-

a network of box-nesting Little Owls that

are monitored on an annual basis and this

population provides the perfect opportunity to

test response rates under different scenarios.

Intensive trials of this survey methodology

provide the information needed to design a

robust national survey to accurately determine

the size of the UK Little Owl population.

This is a project that dovetails particularly

well with The Sound Approach’s interests in

bird vocalisations and the field techniques

associated with them.

determined survey locations. However,

in order to use this approach within the

context of a national survey we first need to

understand how known populations of Little

Owls respond to playback. For example, do

birds respond more often where they occur

at a higher density and are response rates

influenced by weather conditions or the

type of technology used to broadcast the

calls during playback?

BTO volunteer ringers and nest recorders in

the south Lincolnshire fens have established

ALL EARS Little Owls react more strongly to the calls of strangers than their near neighbours.

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We are very grateful to Mark Constantine who, through The Sound Approach, aims to popularise birdsong and raise standards in the use of sounds in bird identification. Subjects of particular interest include ageing and sexing birds by their sounds, recognising hidden biodiversity and identifying ‘new species’ through songs and calls. Their collection of bird songs and calls now exceeds 50,000 recordings of more than 1,000 species, with a particular focus on the Western

Palaearctic region, making this one of the largest archives of bird sound recordings in the world.

MARK CONSTANTINE

Driven by his passion for birds and their song, Mark Constantine, founder of Lush Cosmetics, formed The Sound Approach in 2000. Mark has been a keen birder since the 1970s. During holidays to Mallorca in the 1980s he became friends with the late Peter Grant, “the best teacher a birder could have asked for.”

CORY’S CONFUSION Sound Approach recordings have helped inform discussions of Calonectris taxonomy.

A year in BTO Cymru 2013–14

It’s been three years since BTO decided

a professional presence in Wales was

desirable and necessary with the Welsh

Government assuming responsibility

for the environment in the principality.

Our BTO Cymru office, with its two staff

hosted at Bangor University, is now well

established and in regular contact with

friends and partner organisations including

Natural Resources Wales (NRW), the

Welsh Ornithological Society, The Wildlife

Trusts, RSPB Cymru, Centre for Ecology

and Hydrology and Welsh bird groups.

The national media regularly contact us

for comment and clarity on all matters

ornithological, and this regular media

presence has raised the BTO’s profile in

Wales.

BuIldIng on a strong foundatIonOne of the main objectives for BTO

Cymru over the last three years has been

to increase the number of BBS squares

surveyed across Wales in order to support

conservation work, particularly of priority

species. With financial support from NRW, a

programme of mentoring and training was

developed and, building on the success

As our office in Wales reaches its third birthday, BTO Cymru Development Officer Kelvin JOnes updates us on what has been achieved to support our members, volunteers and partners in the principality.

of the 2011 and 2012 seasons, the 2013

season proved a record year with 331

individual 1-km squares surveyed.

As funding for this part of our work

comes to an end, an ongoing programme

of work will build on this initiative and,

more importantly, retain, enthuse and

motivate our existing volunteers to

continue contributing to this survey which

underpins so much of BTO’s work.

One of the big successes of

programmes like BBC’s Springwatch

and S4C’s Y Gwannwyn was the interest

they generated in bird ringing. However,

the geographical spread of ringers and

ringing trainers across Wales is patchy and

a factor in holding back the expansion

of ringing here. To begin to address

this issue, a ringing course was held at

the Welsh Wildlife Centre in Cilgerran,

Pembrokeshire in partnership with the

Teifi Ringing Group and the Wildlife Trust

of West and South Wales. During the

weekend a number of long-established

ringers attained their trainer’s permits,

which will hopefully help to build capacity

for training ringers in the principality.

BTO Garden BirdWatch is well

supported in Wales, a testimony to the

hard work and enthusiasm of our three

ambassadors, Mick Bailey, Amanda Skull

and David Lee. A very successful Garden

Wildlife Conference was held at Bangor

University in October, in partnership with

Plantlife Cymru and the North Wales


Getting started yOunG...one of the unexpected successes of the Bto Cymru office has been the establishment of a Bto student ambassador programme at Welsh universities. With competition for jobs in the environmental sector continuing to be very tough, students can give themselves a head start by supplementing academic studies with hands-on experience. Bto is well placed to offer some good old-fashioned practical experience through our various surveys and schemes and peer-to-peer promotion of our work is proving to be a great way to engage students. With a very modest investment we have been able to find student ambassadors in the four bigger universities. Working together with Kelvin Jones, this team promotes our work to a very relevant target audience, helping them to understand more about what we do and how they can benefit from participating.

Chat survey The latest BBs report shows that Whinchat had a better year in 2013 but that there is still cause for concern with a 55% decline since 1995.

Wildlife Trust. The event was fully booked

and feedback from participants has

been excellent. We are grateful to the

university for hosting the event and we

are already planning the next one!

foundIng neW netWorKsPart of our work over the past year has

focused on building a more coherent

approach to raptor monitoring. As noted

in this Annual Review (see page 4),

BTO Scotland has had considerable

experience of coordinating raptor study

groups through their work with the

Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme,

and we were keen to learn from this

expertise and deploy it in Wales. A

number of very constructive meetings

were held to bring together the various

groups and we have established a good

working dialogue, which we hope will

lead to a more coordinated approach

to raptor monitoring in coming years.

Suspected persecution of Peregrines at

two north Wales eyries was revealed

during the BTO Peregrine Survey in 2014

and highlights the need for continued

careful monitoring of our protected

species.

The Welsh Chat Survey of 2012

was extended because of the

atrocious weather the previous year.

WeBS coverage was maintained

and extended and, with the Welsh

Ornithological Society now part of the

BirdTrack partnership, BirdTrack is being

increasingly used by both volunteers and

county recorders as the standard system

for collecting and disseminating bird data

in Wales.

BTO’s decision to open an office here

in Wales has proved a huge success,

both for BTO and for the members and

volunteers who tirelessly and freely give

their time and expertise to expand our

knowledge of Welsh birds, and thereby

contribute so much to their conservation.

We are grateful to Environment Wales

(on behalf of the Welsh Government),

the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation and

NRW for their support.

Facts Figures

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Green Woodpecker numbers are down by 38% in Wales compared with a 38% increase in the whole of the uK. numbers are particularly low in the south-west of the country, with gaps in distribution now appearing.

The latest BBs report shows a 96% increase in House sparrow in Wales compared with a 2% decline in the uK as a whole.

The number of birds ringed in Wales in 2013. These include a little Tern which was ringed in its nest in Gronant in 1994 and was found freshly dead in the same area 18 years, 11 months and 3 days later, setting a new longevity record for this species.


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‘One of the main objectives for BTO Cymru over the last three years has been to increase the number of BBS squares surveyed across Wales in order to support conservation work, particularly of priority species.’


Held at the University of East Anglia in August 2013, this four-day event involved an international field of scientists, who presented their work and exchanged ideas within a packed programme. As co-hosts, there was a strong BTO presence at the conference. BTO scientists convened four of the conference’s 18 symposia, and contributed to six oral and two poster presentations, all of which were well received. BTO also jointly ran a workshop for early career scientists with the British Ornithologists’ Union.

Oral Presentations

Ausden M., Ockendon N., Beale C., Carroll M., Dodd A., Johnston A., Oliver T., Pearce-Higgins J.W. The implications of climate change for species prioritisation and site management.

Hewson C., Atkinson P., Conway G., Henderson I. Spring migration strategies of Afro-Palaearctic migrants wintering in central and southern Africa and breeding in Britain.

Plummer K.E., Bearhop S., Leech D.I., Chamberlain D.E., Blount J.D. Winter supplementary feeding alters the phenotypic structure of blue tit Cyanistes caeruleus populations.

Baillie S., Robinson R., Johnston A., Green R. Integrated modelling of bird populations – the value of direct measures of recruitment.

Henderson I., Cresswell W. Combining large-scale patterns of breeding abundance with site based ecological studies in winter and summer to identify drivers of population change in Whinchats Saxicola rubetra.

Taylor J., Henderson I., Hartley I., Ash D. Comparing variation in habitat use and productivity with estimates of survival and recruitment in a declining migrant bird: the Whinchat Saxicola rubetra on Salisbury Plain, England.

The BTO in printThe outputs from BTO research continue to appear in a broad range of peer-reviewed publications. Summaries of all published papers now appear on our website.

Looking at some BTO PAPERS...

Understanding disease reservoirs in wild birds Particular strains of the bacterium Salmonella typhimurium may be carried by wild birds. A comparison of these different strains (known as phage types) provides supporting evidence that garden birds can act as a reservoir for Salmonellosis in humans.

Bird surveys reveal population changes… for mammals! Volunteers taking part in the Breeding Bird Survey have been recording mammals since 1995. Analyses of these data reveal big population changes in nine common species, for example a 48% decline in Rabbits. The study highlights the value of the BTO’s volunteer network for monitoring groups other than birds.

Royan, A., Hannah, D.M., Reynolds, S.J., Noble, D.G. & Sadler, J.P. (2013). Avian community responses to variability in river hydrology. PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0083221

Holt, C. (2013). The changing status of the Great White Egret in Britain. British Birds 106, 246–257.

Gullet, P., Evans, K.L., Robinson, R.A. & Hatchwell, B.J. (2014). Oikos 123, 389–400.

Lawson, B., de Pinna, E., Horton, R.A., Macgregor, S.K., John, S.K., Chantrey, J., Duff, J.P., Kirkwood, J.K., Simpson, V.R., Robinson, R.A., Wain, J. & Cunningham, A.A. (2014). Epidemiological evidence that garden birds are a source of human Salmonellosis in England and Wales. PLOS ONE. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0088968

Does winter feeding reduce Blue Tit breeding? Blue Tits receiving supplementary winter food had lighter, smaller offspring, with reduced survival, the following spring. This study highlights the potential population-level effects of winter feeding.

Long-tailed Tits bolstered by warm springs BTO science contributed to work showing that rising spring temperatures can help explain the rapid recent population growth of British Long-tailed Tits. Annual survival was higher in years with milder breeding seasons, suggesting that this species could benefit from predicted warming through climate change.

Are Great White Egrets here to stay? As this review reveals, both the numbers of Great White Egrets in Britain and their range have increased over the last 20 years. Data collected by WeBS volunteers have helped to document their spread and can be used to generate population trends. The study also reviews their ecology and habitat requirements.

Going with the flow? Costs and benefits of river flow variability to riverine birds Data from the BTO’s Waterways Breeding Bird Survey demonstrate how the magnitude, timing and variation in river flows may influence bird communities. This work underlines how bird communities might respond to shifts in river flows caused by climate change and highlights those species potentially at risk.

EUROPEAN FOCUS: BTO at the 9th Conference of the European Ornithologists’ Union...

Whinchat researchers from all over Europe shared their knowledge and expertise at the Norwich meeting.

Plummer, K.E., Bearhop, S., Leech, D.I., Chamberlain, D.E. & Blount, J.D. (2013). Winter food provisioning reduces future breeding performance in a wild bird. Scientific Reports 3, article number 2002. doi: 10.1038/srep02002

Wright, L.J., Newson, S.E. & Noble, D.G. (2013). The value of a random sampling design for annual monitoring of national populations of larger British terrestrial mammals. European Journal of Wildlife Research 60, 213–221. doi: 10.1007/s10344-013-0768-x


Corporate Membership 2013/14 Anglia Sports & Schoolwear Ltd, Anglian Water, Ark Wildlife, R & E Bamford Ltd, Biotrack Ltd, BirdGuides, Birdseye, The Bird Table Ltd, Carl Zeiss Ltd, Ernest Charles, CJ Wildlife, Essex & Suffolk Water, Frontier Holidays Ltd, Gardenature, Gardman Ltd, Grant Arms Hotel, John E Haith Ltd, Jacobi Jayne & Co, JustAddBirds, Natureguides, The Nest Box Co Ltd, Northumbrian Water, Opticron, Paddocks Farm Partnership, Park Hill Nurseries & Garden Centre Ltd, Porzana, Serenata Commerce Ltd, Soar Mill Seeds, Swallowtail Print, Swarovski UK Ltd, Sykes Cottages, Syngenta, Tendley Quarries Ltd, Thames Water Utilities Ltd, Thetford Garden Centre.

Trusts 2013/14 AEB Charitable Trust, The Balmain Charitable Trust, A S Butler Charitable Trust, Charles & Caroline Barratt Charitable Trust, The Benham Charitable Settlement, The Downton Banister Trust, The Dulverton Trust, The Keith Ewart Charitable Trust, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, Harris Charitable Trust, Marsh Christian Trust, Lord Medway’s Charitable Trust, The Mitchell Trust, Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust, The Rowan Bentall Charitable Trust, The Saxham Trust, The Slater Foundation, The Emily Weircroft Charitable Trust, The Whaites Charitable Fund, The Geoffrey Watling Charity, The Valerie White Memorial Trust, The Maldwyn Williams Charitable Trust, The J & J R Wilson Trust.

Legacies 2013/14 Mary Theresa Barker, Emily J Collis, Howard Lloyd Davies, William John Farley-Hills, James Bruce Henry, Maxwell Durno Haggett, Penelope Anne Hollow, Nancy Ursula Johnson, Stephen Charles Knight, Eileen Ruth Munns, Jean Palmer, Neil Taylor, Edith Lorna Thomas, Charles John Dalglish Shackles, Anthea Isabella Webb.

In memoriam 2013/14 John Sidney Ash, Norman ‘Norrie’ Avenell, Jean Barker, Michael Rowland Barker, Kay Bennett, Pamela Blyth, Michael Carpenter, David Clarke, Simon Douglas, Jean Elizabeth (Betty) Finnimore, Pete Goodlad, Phyllis Houseman, Penelope Hollow, Roger Jsted, Jillian Mary MacGuire, Duncan Mackenzie, Christine Martin, Sally Morgan, Andrew Winston Olden, Daniel Pawsey, Betty Robinson, Arthur Henry Smith, Bruce Webster, Dr Edward Williams, Mary Grassick Woolley, Hazel Joan Wright.

Funders of BTO Work 2013/14 Anglian Water Group, Animal Health & Veterinary Laboratories Agency, APEM Ltd, Birdlife International, Breckland Society, Broads Authority, Buro Happold, Cambridge Conservation Initiative, Cefas, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Co-operative Society, Countryside Council for Wales, Dartmoor National Park Authority, Department of the Environment Food and Rural Affairs, Department of Energy and Climate Change, Devon Birdwatching and Preservation Society, Environment Agency, Environment Wales, Essex & Suffolk Water, Footprint Ecology, Forewind Ltd, Forestry Commission, Forestry Commission England, Forestry Commission Scotland, Forest Research, Foster & Partners, Fugro EMU Ltd, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, Gardline Environmental Ltd, Gardman Ltd, lnstinctif Partners, James Hutton Institute, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (on behalf of the statutory nature conservation agencies: Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Department of the Environment Northern Ireland), Land Securities, London Borough of Bexley, Make Architects, Manchester Ornithological Society, Manx Bird Life, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Neath & Dulais Angling Club, Natural Environment Research Council, NJ Division of Fish & Wildlife, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Norfolk Biodiversity Information Services, Normandeau Associates, Northumbrian Water Ltd., Opticron, People’s Trust for Endangered Species, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, RWE nPower Ltd, Scottish Government, Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Raptor Study Group, Scottish Renewables, Serco Ltd, Scottish Ornithologists’ Club, The Sound Approach, Sussex Ornithological Society, Stanny House Farm, State of Delaware (DNREC), Swarovski UK Ltd (Swarovski Optik), Syngenta, Tasso Leventis Foundation, University of Cambridge, University of East Anglia, University of Edinburgh, University of Exeter, US Fisheries & Wildlife, Welsh Government, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, The Wildlife Trusts, Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd, Zoological Society of London.

In January 2014, a team of four artists (Robert Greenhalf, Bruce Pearson, Greg Poole and Esther Tyson) accompanied Dr Phil Atkinson, Head of BTO’s International Team, on a trip to Senegal. The trip was part of an innovative new partnership with the Society of Wildlife Artists (SWLA), forged to stimulate interest in bird migration and the scientific work being directed towards our migrant birds, many of which are in long-term decline.

This trip, and the wider project of which it is a part, was made possible because of a generous gift from Penny Hollow in her Will and the kindness of her executors. Penny loved birds and loved art, being a long-standing BTO member and supporter of the SWLA. Her legacy has enabled us to bring together art and science, and to raise the profile of migrant birds in ways that should capture the imagination and interest of a broader audience. Work from the trip will feature at the 2014 Natural Eye exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London, and further trips will take place during 2015, where attention will shift to stopover sites in the Mediterranean and to places within the UK, where artists will be given new opportunities to engage with migrant birds.

Penny’s legacy has provided the opportunity for the BTO and SWLA to develop something rather special. It has enabled us to engage with the issues facing migrant birds from different viewpoints and to present our work within a wider context. It has also enabled us to realise a project idea that would have appealed to Penny, with her interest in both art and birds.

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BTO funding in 2013/14We are very grateful for the generous support that we have received, both in time and money, in the past year. In addition to members and other fieldworkers, there are many other individuals and companies who support the work of the BTO with financial contributions. The Trust is particularly pleased to acknowledge the following Corporate Members and other supporters.

Where ART can provide context for SCIENCE

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AnnuAl review 2014 PArtnershiP

“The BtO has a vision of a world in which nature conservation and sustainable development are founded on evidence-based decision making, and in which society understands, values and contributes to that process.”

Much of the work referred to in the Annual review relies on volunteers and is undertaken with other organisations, particularly through BtO’s partnership with the Joint nature Conservation Committee (JnCC). JnCC delivers the uK and international responsibilities of the four country nature conservation agencies – natural england, natural resources wales, scottish natural heritage and the Department of the environment northern ireland.

The Breeding Bird survey (BBs) is run by BtO, and jointly funded by BtO, JnCC and the royal society for the Protection of Birds (rsPB). The wetland Bird survey (weBs) is a partnership between BtO, rsPB and JnCC, in association with the wildfowl and wetlands trust. Birdtrack is organised by BtO for BtO, rsPB, Birdwatch ireland, scottish Ornithologists’ Club (sOC) and welsh Ornithological society (wOs).

Bird Atlas 2007–11 was a partnership between BtO, Birdwatch ireland and the sOC.

BtO wales is supported by natural resources wales, environment wales (on behalf of the welsh Government), wOs and the esmée Fairbairn Foundation. BtO northern ireland receives funding from the northern ireland environment Agency.

we are immensely grateful for all our partners’ support.

© British Trust for Ornithology 2014. BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU. Email: [email protected] Website: www.bto.org

Registered Charity no. 216652 (England & Wales) no. SC039193 (Scotland). Cover and back cover: davId kjaER davidkjaer.com

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