
Waterbirds in the UK 2021/22: The Wetland Bird Survey and Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme
Latest Publications

The Breeding Bird Survey 2022
Population trends of the UK’s breeding birds

Trends in butterfly populations in UK gardens - new evidence from citizen science monitoring
Butterflies find safe haven in UK gardens
BTO Garden BirdWatch (GBW) is the UK’s largest structured bird survey, delivering over 25 years of weekly bird counts from more than 14,00

Temporal avoidance as a means of reducing competition between sympatric species
Do Marsh Tits modify their behaviour to reduce competition?
Competition between species has been put forward as a possible reason for the declines seen in some bird species, including Marsh Tit and Willow Tit, but confirming a causal link between competitio

Landscape fires disproportionally affect areas of conservation priority but only under low moisture conditions
This study identified five fires reaching more than 100 km2, a threshold often used to classify ‘megafires’.

Farmland practices are driving bird population decline across Europe
The impacts of human activities on Europe's breeding birds
Our knowledge of European bird populations comes from the efforts of volunteers, contributing to large-scale monitoring of breeding birds in countries across Europe, partnered with researchers at a

Waterbirds in the UK 2021/22: The Wetland Bird Survey and Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme

Production of smoothed population trends when a key year of data is missing.
Analyses of simulated data provide assurance that the BBS trends for 1994 to 2021 (but are missing 2020) are robust and can be viewed with confidence.

Daily, seasonal and annual variation in area use of Lesser Black-backed Gulls (Larus fuscus) related to offshore renewable developments

Monitoring five decades of change in the UK’s rarest breeding birds through citizen science: the Rare Breeding Birds Panel

How important is it to standardise the measured mass of shorebirds weighed at varying intervals after capture?
This paper examines this phenomenon using captures of Knot, Turnstone, Dunlin and Semipalmated Sandpiper in Delaware Bay, USA.

The Rare Breeding Birds Panel: five decades of monitoring the UK’s rare breeding birds

A niche-based approach for evaluating the mechanisms of community stability in butterfly communities across three countries
What drives stability in ecological communities?
Using data collected by volunteers participating in three national butterfly monitoring schemes - operating in Spain, the

Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2022
Northern Ireland Seabird Report 2022
The 10th NI Seabird Report charts the fortunes of Northern Ireland's breeding seabird species and sheds light on the initial impact of avian flu.

Aerial insect biomass, but not phenological mismatch, is associated with chick survival of an insectivorous bird
Recent declines in insect populations may have consequences for the bird species that feed on them.

Highly pathogenic avian influenza in wild birds in the United Kingdom in 2022: impacts, planning for future outbreaks, and conservation and research priorities. Report on virtual workshops held in November 2022
Avian Flu: what next?

Limited effectiveness of actions intended to achieve a voluntary transition from the use of lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition for hunting in Britain
Are voluntary initiatives to promote the replacement of lead ammunition working?

The conservation of Afro-Palaearctic migrants: what we are learning and what we need to know
Can migrant birds wait until we have all the answers?
Research led by our CEO, Juliet Vickery, makes the case to act now to stem migrant bird population declines instead of waiting for more evidence.

BirdTrends 2022: Trends in numbers, breeding success and survival for UK breeding birds
Read the BTO's latest BirdTrends report
The BirdTrends 2022 report is a one-stop shop for authoritative information about the population status of the common breeding birds in the UK.

Collation of a century of soil invertebrate abundance data suggests long-term declines in earthworms but not tipulids
New study identifies long-term decline in earthworms
What could be a previously undetected biodiversity decline potentially represents a significant conservation and economic issue in the UK.

A review of the impacts of air pollution on terrestrial birds
A review paper by BTO considers 203 studies of the effects of air pollution on 231 bird species.
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