We harness the skills and passion of birdwatchers to advance our understanding of ornithology and produce impartial science - communicated clearly for the benefit of birds and people.
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Urgent action is needed to tackle the decline of breeding wader populations in the UK. Oystercatcher, Lapwing, Curlew, Dunlin, Redshank, Ringed Plover, and Common Sandpiper are all plummeting in...
State of Nature 2019 is published this week, updating everything we know about the state of populations – in terms of numbers or distribution – of more than 7,000 species of animal, plant and...
State of Nature 2019 documents how human impacts are driving sweeping changes in wildlife in the UK. As well as an overarching assessment of UK flora and fauna, there are separate reports for...
This report provides an assessment of the impact of BTO science over the period 2012–2018, measured in terms of knowledge and information, policies and management, species and habitats, people and...
We don’t know for certain how many birds are released each year, but estimates based on the National Gamebag Census by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust put the figures at around 41–50...
New BTO research has revealed that the release of Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges for commercial shoots may be boosting numbers of the avian predators and scavengers.
Thanks to the BTO's Cuckoo Tracking Project we are learning more about Cuckoo migration. There are still important questions to answer, so we have fitted four more Cuckoos with satellite tags...
Climate change has been widely cited as one of the most significant threats to biodiversity, and its impact is projected to become increasingly severe in the future. It is important to gather...
Together, the UK’s gardens cover a larger area than all National Nature Reserves combined and arguably form our most important nature reserve. As towns and city become more densely populated...
Newly published research from BTO shows how the popular pastime of feeding the birds is significantly shaping garden bird communities in Britain. The populations of several species of garden birds...
The latest BTO/RSPB/JNCC Wetland Bird Survey report has been published, covering the period July 2017 to June 2018. Explore all the data and trends, including waterbird totals for all WeBS sites –...
Gardenwatch is a collaborative project between BTO and the Springwatch team. We asked you to tell us about your garden and its wildlife so we could build a comprehensive picture of how gardens can...
In the UK, certain wild bird species can be lethally controlled (killed) when the conditions of a licence from Natural England have been met. General Licences – the subject of current public debate...
The new BBS report shows the impact that severe 2018 weather may have had on some of our birds. The Beast from the East hit some of our smaller resident birds whilst strong desert winds hampered...
From satellite tags the size (and shape!) of a brick to 0.3 g geolocators, wildlife tracking devices have come a long way over the past 30 years. In 1989, albatrosses were the first birds remotely...
A major new study led by BTO, working with the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) partners, JNCC, RSPB and in association with WWT, provides detailed information on the importance of Great Britain for...
Farmland is the UK countryside. Land managed, in one way or another, for agriculture, covers more than 70% of the UK’s land area, and disproportionately more of the non-built-up land that is...
One of our most treasured songbirds, the Spotted Flycatcher, is disappearing. Once considered a common garden nesting species, the Spotted Flycatcher is now a bird that many people are willing to...
As demand for food increases, a crucial question in conservation is how to limit the negative impacts of agriculture on biodiversity. ‘Land sparing’ has been proposed as a strategy to address...
I am often asked how many staff BTO employs and more often than not, people express surprise when I tell them that we are an organisation of around 100 — they almost always assume we must be...
Short-eared Owls are an amazing species, and a sighting is a magical experience. They can be nomadic, breeding almost prolifically in some years and areas, yet in others appearing to be absent....
Since fieldwork started in early 1968, bird atlases have been a periodic feature of the bird surveying landscape in Britain and Ireland. They have provided countless hours of enjoyment for their...
The journeys migrant birds make are so extraordinary that for a long time humans simply did not believe they happened. The reality is perhaps even stranger than the diverse explanations people...
We’ve lost over half the number of Cuckoos in the UK over the last 20 years. ...
An increasing body of research suggests that scientific messages may be communicated more effectively through the use of art, storytelling and photography, rather than via peer-reviewed papers. The...
Created through a partnership between the BTO, the RSPB, Birdwatch Ireland, the Scottish Ornithologists' Club and the Welsh Ornithological Society, BirdTrack is an exciting project that...
Henrietta is part of the Terrestrial Ecology team, researching and analysing impacts of land-use on bird distributions and ecology.
David is responsible for the strategic development of BTO’s monitoring programme and associated research, is the main contact for biodiversity indicators, surveys of taxa other than birds, and for conservation initiatives such as BAP and Birds of Conservation Concern.
