The RSPB Centre for Conservation Science are working in partnership with Seabird Watch, the Department of Zoology at Oxford University and Hideaway Media Ltd (Time-Lapse-Systems) to develop and install camera systems capable of capturing vital conservation work in exciting new ways. 

Here at the RSPB, we’re constantly pushing to improve the ways we monitor the conservation status of the internationally important populations…

Dr Jen Smart, the RSPB’s Head of Conservation Science Scotland & Northern Ireland, has been awarded an Honorary Professorship at the University of East Anglia (UEA) which she will take up from August 2022.  

Jen was nominated for the Honorary Chair position by Professor Jennifer Gill, in recognition of her long-standing work at UEA’s School of Biological Sciences (BIO).  

After doing her undergraduate degree…

Poisoning caused by preying on or scavenging animals shot by hunters using lead ammunition has left the populations of many raptors – or birds of prey – far smaller than they should be, according to the first study to calculate these impacts across Europe.   

When birds like eagles and Red Kites scavenge carcasses or eat injured animals with fragments of toxic lead from gun ammunition embedded in their bodies…

As part of our research collaboration with the RSPB we challenged the widespread view that tropical seabirds forage more unpredictably than temperate and polar species, and we tested the hypothesis that the foraging behaviour of a species is associated with its breeding strategy. Today’s guest blog by Dr Louise Soanes, Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Roehampton, explains her new paper.

By deploying…

In a new guest blog published today, Riccardo Alba, PhD Student at the University of Turin discusses his latest paper. His study looked at which drivers have been most consistently associated with positive or negative demographic responses in 34 European mountain and upland bird species.

European mountain and upland areas account for around 20% of Europe’s landmass. They are unique and wonderful ecosystems, not only for…

Surveying for nocturnal, ground nesting seabirds can often be fraught with difficulties. In today’s blog Siân Denney, Science Communications Volunteer, explains a new RSPB paper which has trialled a novel method of detecting seabird burrows through the use of scent dogs.

Dogs have been domesticated for thousands of years and trained to perform a vast array of tasks. Scent dogs are increasingly used for conservation…

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…