The Rare Breeding Bird Panel (RBBP) turns 50 this year. In today’s blog Andrew Stanbury, Conservation Scientist, is taking this opportunity to celebrate this milestone anniversary by highlighting the important role the Panel plays in monitoring bird population and UK nature conservation more generally.
To quote Monty Python- What has the Rare Breeding Birds Panel ever done for us?
Well, the RBBP is an independent organisation formed in 1973 to encourage and support the recording and reporting of rare breeding birds in the UK, as well as to maintain a secure archive to support conservation and species research. The Panel nowadays collates breeding data on all species with fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs in the UK and, as such, forms an essential part of the UK’s bird monitoring schemes.
Little egret is just one of the species which have been added to the the RBBP list (c) Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
Many of these species are not well covered by the other national bird monitoring schemes; making the RBBP the place to go. Reports are published annually in the journal British Birds, which document numbers, trends and distribution.
The story so far
To date, a total of 180 naturally occurring species have been reported on since its formation, as well as 41 non-native species. The list of RBBP species has seen major changes over the last 50 years, particularly because of continued colonisation by new species, largely as a result of climate change; for example, Little Egret first bred in the UK in 1996, Cattle Egret in 2008 and Great White Egret in 2012.
Other species have moved off the list as populations have increased to above the 2,000 pair threshold due to conservation action. Red Kite was removed in 2012 and is now monitored through the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey. Unfortunately, other species have been added to the list owing to severe population declines; for example, Turtle Dove was included in 2018.
The data provided by the RBBP enables the calculation of population estimates and trends for many rare breeding bird species, which in turn feed into conservation priorities exercises, such as Birds of Conservation Concern, and are used in wider assessments of biodiversity such as governmental wild bird and priority species indicators, and The State of the UK’s Birds and State of Nature reports. They are also used to inform targeted conservation action for individual species, and in assessments for designated sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and Special Protection Areas enabling improved protection for our rare breeding birds.
Red Kite have been removed thanks to concerted conservation efforts (c) Ben Andrew (rspb-images.com)
A series of celebrations
To help mark the anniversary, a range of publications are planned through the year. Some people may have attended the free online conference in mid-March, which contained 12 fantastic talks highlighting the work of the RBBP and showcased studies into several of our rarest breeding birds. All the talks can now be viewed via the RBBP website.
The work of the RBBP wouldn’t be possible without the invaluable input from the county bird recording network and the thousands of birdwatchers submitting their records, so a huge thank you to everyone who has contributed over the years. We hope to build on the past success of the scheme going forward into the future. The Rare Breeding Birds Panel is supported by JNCC (on behalf of the countryside agencies), RSPB and BTO. Further information can be found here: https://rbbp.org.uk/.
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