“Not bad for a seabird cliff”

A while ago, I mentioned that we had received the results of this years ‘Birds of Conservation Concern’ monitoring. I can now confirm that we have several species of birds on both the red and amber lists nesting on our reserve. Ken Proud, the volunteer that carried out the research, mapped the sightings of each species whilst on weekly data collection visits and compiled the information into a short report.

Birds that are on the red list are considered globally threatened and suffering from massive population declines and habitat range contractions. We are lucky enough to be able to support 11 red list species on our reserve. These are skylark, corn bunting, linnet, song thrush, grey partridge, lapwing, yellow wagtail, grasshopper warbler, house sparrow, yellowhammer and tree sparrow. Of these, the skylark and linnet seem to be having the most success with 7 and 9 pairs respectively confirmed nesting on the reserve.

Amber list birds are those with unfavourable conservation status in Europe or those who have suffered moderate habitat range contractions or breeding number decline over the last 25 years. At Bempton eight of these species are considered to be nesting on or near the reserve. These are swallow, dunnock, meadow pipit, whitethroat, reed bunting, willow warbler, kestrel and quail.

Previous decline in many of these bird species’ has been linked to changing farming practices, such as an increased use of agrochemicals, the loss of hay and pasture fields, changes in crop sowing times, drainage and ploughing of grasslands, and the removal or neglect of hedgerows - all activities incompatible with a thriving wildlife population.

Here at Bempton we are trying to combat these incompatible practices by actively planting wild bird seed mixes (that overwintering species can use as their food supply), as well as by creating areas for ground nesting birds such as skylarks. We are also working with local farmers to encourage them to take up environmental stewardship schemes, which would further benefit the local bird and wildlife population.

Hopefully these measures will help maintain a stable breeding population and,In the words of Ken himself, Bempton’s results are “not bad for a seabird cliff” anyway.

Chris Gomersall (rspb-images.com)