Bycatch (marine species caught unintentionally while fishing for another target species) is one of the major threats affecting seabirds globally. Distressing images of albatross caught in longline fisheries in the southern hemisphere are well known, but what is less well known is that seabirds closer to home are also at risk of bycatch. In today’s blog, Conservation Scientists Ian Cleasby & Linda Wilson tell us about…

A paper published in the current issue of Science of the Total Environment confirms that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) nimesulide is toxic to vultures, following safety testing of the drug on vultures in South Africa.

Since the banning of veterinary diclofenac, the NSAID which drove three species of Gyps vultures to near-extinction in South Asia, there has been an urgent need to test other NSAIDs also…

At the RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science, we are lucky to have incredible women who are working hard to find practical solutions to the most pressing conservation problems. For International Day of Women and Girls in Science, we’ve asked some of them how they got into science and their advice for any aspiring female conservationists.

For the love of nature

Whilst some of our women in science followed…

New figures show cranes at a record high number after going extinct in the UK 400 years ago. In today’s blog Andrew Stanbury, RSPB Conservation Scientist, takes us through how the tallest bird in the UK started their comeback, and how conservation action is restoring their lost wetland habitats.  

The bugle falls silent 

400 years ago, cranes disappeared from the UK. While at one time they were so plentiful that Henry…

This month we’re launching a new app to allow members of the public to report incidents of burning on peatland. We need you to tell us when and where burning is taking place to support our call for Governments across the UK to ban burning on peatland and to licence all moorland and grass burning.

But why is this so important that we stop burning?

From mountains to hills, valleys to moors, our uplands are home to…

For his sabbatical last year, Principal Conservation Scientist Ron Summers carried out a survey of the remaining fragments of Caledonian pinewood in Highland Scotland. His aim was to observe management features that may be compromising the potential for the old pinewoods to expand, as well as noting the features that are affecting the integrity of the pinewoods.    

The Caledonian pinewoods of Highland Scotland represent…

A recently published paper has shown that upland woodlands are able to reduce flooding downstream, compared to other common upland land uses. In today’s guest blog, the authors share and discuss their findings.

Woodlands can reduce downstream flooding, but there are relatively few studies providing supporting evidence for these benefits. To address this issue, we measured soil properties and stream flow in upland…

A recent paper published in Nature Geoscience concludes that fire could be an important tool for increasing carbon storage in soils. This paper has been seized on by a UK grouse shooting industry seeking to justify continued vegetation burning in the uplands, including over peat soils. However, this overlooks crucial caveats that limit the applicability of this work to UK moorland. Here, Dr David Douglas, Principal Conservation…

The capercaillie is one of our most magnificent yet elusive species, found only in Scotland in the UK within their preferred pine woodland habitat. Substantial declines have been recorded since the mid-1970s, so a national survey provides updated estimates of the overall population, helping to guide further conservation action for this Red listed species. Today's guest blog by Siân Denney, RSPB Wildlife Advisor explains…

Today, we are publishing the 5th review of ‘Birds of Conservation Concern’, commonly referred to as BoCC, in the journal British Birds. This was a partnership project between the RSPB, British Trust for Ornithology, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and the government agencies - Joint Nature Conservation Committee, NatureScot, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Northern Ireland Environment Agency…

Wetlands on Orkney – a vital habitat for farmland breeding waders?

The publication of an RSPB-led study describes the importance of wetlands for breeding waders within Orkney’s farmed landscape. In today’s blog, Dr David Douglas, Principal Conservation Scientist, discusses the key findings.

The Orkney archipelago supports important wildlife populations, and this includes its high densities of breeding…

A new paper published today has shown that diseases affecting different UK tree species have a multiplying effect on the loss of associated biodiversity. In today’s blog, Paul Bellamy, Senior Conservation Scientist, discusses this new research by James Hutton Institute scientists and partners in the UK and Portugal.

In a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Ecology, the research team reveal that…

After the 2020 Hope Farm summer monitoring season was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it has been great to get a full season of biological monitoring completed this summer. In this blog Derek Gruar, Senior Research Assistant, will present our findings from the core monitoring of breeding birds, butterflies and bumblebees on RSPB Hope Farm.

The first few surveys were conducted in unseasonably cold weather; overnight…

Today's blog by Fiona Burns, Senior Conservation Scientist, highlights the publication of an important paper on the EU and UK population of breeding birds.

Today we released a paper with colleagues in BirdLife International and the Czech Society for Ornithology estimating the change in the total number of breeding birds in the EU and UK between 1980 and 2017.  The stark results suggest that in my lifetime around 600…

Climate change presents one of the largest threats to birds and other wildlife. But as our understanding of the species struggling from climatic changes increases, so too does our toolkit for identifying solutions. As COP26 draws to a close, today's blog highlights the latest research from our team of scientists, working on understanding the impacts of climate change.

Upland species

Amongst the species most likely…

The nature and climate crises are inexorably interlinked. Changes in climate affect nature, while investing in nature can help people to both mitigate and adapt to climate change. That is why there has been a massive effort to make links between biodiversity COP 15 and climate COP 26. In today's blog, hear about the latest research contributing towards our understanding of climate change mitigation, from our team of…

Blog by Malcolm Burgess, Principal Conservation Scientist

An open access scientific paper has just published in Ibis, led by PhD student Fraser Bell at the University of Exeter, with scientists from the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science and the Swiss Ornithological Institute, and fieldworkers from PiedFly.Net. The paper reveals the full annual migration of British breeding Pied flycatchers for the first time.

The work…

The annual update of the UK’s Biodiversity Indicators was published today by Defra.  These are important metrics, reporting on the state of the UK’s biodiversity, the pressures it faces and the conservation action that is being undertaken in response. Today’s blog by Fiona Burns, Senior Conservation Scientist explains.

Our inter-related responses to the state of biodiversity and the pressure of climate…

Guest blog by Sophie Mott, Carbon Farming Project Manager and Georgie Bray, Hope Farm Manager

Why are we interested in Carbon at Hope farm?

Recently, hard to read science underlined the ever-closing gap in our opportunity to halt the increase in temperature beyond 1.5 degrees. A shocking statistic, and that is without the full understanding of what this may mean for nature, where we live, and our ability to farm. Given…

The charismatic, emblematic and highly distinctive—if not conventionally beautiful—northern bald ibis is a species that has faced significant challenges and declines. Fortunately it has also long been the focus of conservation concern and efforts. In today’s blog Chris Bowden, Coordinator of the AEWA Northern Bald Ibis International Working Group, explains how the population has been recovering and future prospects.…

Identifying areas around the world that can best contribute to the conservation of wild animals is a major challenge. Historically, this often required conducting extensive surveys in the field, but with the advent of miniature tracking technology we can now follow animals and allow them to indicate which areas they depend on the most. A new tool developed by BirdLife International and a network of international collaborators…

A scientific paper, just published in the Journal of Ornithology, written by scientists from the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science, suggests that the whinchat population in the UK uplands is not currently limited by the availability of apparently suitable breeding habitat. Conservation Scientists, Andrew Stanbury and Irena Tománková explain more.

Declining whinchat

Over the last century, breeding whinchat…

Today’s blog is by Conservation Scientist, Connie Tremlett, on her recent field work on the remote island of St Kilda tracking a tiny seabird

The Leach’s storm petrel is one of our smallest seabirds, around the size of a starling. They are beautiful birds – a sleek greyish black, with a domed forehead, a white rump and a forked tail. Unlike many of our other seabirds however, few people are privileged to have close…

Today's blog is by Conservation Scientist Tom Bradfer-Lawrence and Senior Conservation Scientist Rob Field. Tom led this work whilst working in the RSPB’s Centre for Conservation Science, but is now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Stirling. 

The extent and severity of 2021’s extreme global weather events are manifestations of the warnings contained in the recent report from the Intergovernmental…

In the run up to the Convention on Biological Diversity, the UK Government has pledged to protect 30% of land by 2030. However, in a new study published today, RSPB scientists argue that as little as 5% may currently be effectively protected for nature.

Next year, governments of the world will come together to adopt the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework under the United Nations’ Convention on Biological Diversity…