Today, Defra have published a long-awaited indicator for the UK's upland birds, some of which are of international importance. Today’s guest blog by Pat Thompson, Senior Policy Officer (Uplands) explains the details.
The Upland Bird Indicator uses a range of survey data gathered since 1994, including data from the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and other specialist surveys, trend lines have been generated for 32 species, including 15 birds which are regarded as upland specialists and a further 13 generalist species and 4 birds associated with riparian habitats.
The indicator has been published as an ‘experimental statistic’ this year, meaning that it remains under development and subject to future change. Due to the datasets available for upland birds, this indicator starts later (1994) than other bird Indicators, most of which start in 1970.
The new indicator includes individual measures for 32 species of upland birds including Golden Plover (c) Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
The indicator charts the average change in these species over time. The long-term assessment indicates that on average these species have declined by 11% between 1994 and 2020. Within this generalist species have on average remained stable since 1994, whereas the upland specialists have on average declined by 15% since the mid-nineties and riparian species by 12%. Governments must now act decisively to tackle well-known drivers of change of internationally important habitats and species.
Monitoring the uplands
The UKs uplands comprise a range of priority open and woodland habitats that support an important assemblage of bird species, some of which are of international importance. These include birds considered to be upland specialists (birds like Dotterel, Golden Plover and Merlin) which now live alongside species such as Lapwing, Redshank and Cuckoo that can also be found living in other habitats. Some formerly widespread species, including Black Grouse, Curlew and Whinchat are increasingly restricted to the uplands, with the uplands becoming a refuge for these species.
Thanks to the work of volunteers
Monitoring the fate of birds in often hard to reach areas that are characterised by sometimes wet or mountainous terrain and challenging weather conditions is difficult, even in the spring. Thanks to the efforts of an army of dedicated volunteers (some of whom monitored extra upland squares), organised and supported by the British Trust for Ornithology, our knowledge of the distribution (The Bird Atlas 2007-11), numbers and status of upland birds has increased greatly largely thanks to the development of the UK-wide Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).
With surveyors gathering data on birds from over 4,000 sites each year, the BBS has grown from its inception in 1994 to become an incredibly important resource to inform our understanding of the state of the UK’s birds.
Of course, the BBS is not set up to monitor rare birds or some of the specialist birds that are largely restricted to montane or moorland birds. Data on these birds (where less than 2000 pairs) are collated by the Rare Birds Breeding Panel, with periodic species-specific surveys used to monitor the numbers of birds largely restricted to montane and moorland habitats e.g. Black Grouse, Hen Harrier, Golden Eagle, Merlin and Dotterel.
The use of these data to establish an upland bird indicator adds significant value to the hours of monitoring undertaken by amateur and professional surveyors and provides valuable insight into status of upland birds, building on our understanding of the status of individual species.
Trends over time
The lumping of species (as specialists and generalists) and the aggregation of data for lots of different species (some of which may be increasing or declining) is sure to mask species-specific trends. However, over time, these data will help us monitor change in relation to known drivers of change and the response to policy interventions intended to improve the condition of habitats and the species they support.
Whilst those species listed as upland generalists appear to be stable, the upland specialists have fared less well, with a decline since the early 2000s.
Causes of decline
A range of factors are known to be driving changes in the number and distribution of birds in the uplands, with long-term changes in climate and atmospheric pollution, working alongside changes in the way land is used for farming and game management, especially grouse shooting. To address these drivers of change, policy interventions have been deployed to improve the condition of upland meadows and pastures in tandem with measures to reduce livestock grazing and vegetation burning (particularly peatland vegetation) and restore wetland habitats and woodland cover.
Whilst these policy interventions have so far failed to arrest the declines of some species, efforts to restore peatlands and to establish new areas of woodland, especially native woodland are gaining momentum.
Despite the promise of a major post-Brexit shift in policy direction to unlock the delivery of public goods in the uplands, early attempts to encourage land managers to participate in a suite of new post-Brexit environmental schemes in England have had a mixed response. It has always been clear to us that those farmers that farm with the grain of nature have a key role to play, especially in maintaining important upland pastures and meadows which are of vital importance to the conservation of a suite of breeding waders and other wildlife.
It is hoped that Government will work with all interested parties to ensure that upland farmers are able to access the necessary support to enable them to manage their farms in ways that benefit nature and a suite of other environmental outcomes critical to tackling the nature and climate emergencies.
Moorland/Upland specialists – Red Grouse, Golden Plover, Curlew, Meadow Pipit, Whinchat, Wheatear, Snipe, Raven, Black Grouse, Hen Harrier, Golden Eagle, Merlin, Ring Ouzel, Dotterel and Twite [15 species]
Upland generalists: - Buzzard, Carrion Crow, Cuckoo, Hooded Crow, Red Kite, Lapwing, Oystercatcher, Wren, Peregrine, Pied Wagtail, Redshank, Skylark and Stonechat [13 species]
Upland riparian – Dipper, Common Sandpiper, Grey Wagtail and Goosander [4 species]
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