This report of bird population trends as measured by the Breeding Bird Survey (and Waterways Breeding Bird Survey) is the result of, first, the voluntary work of around 3000 volunteers (including me) who collected the data, followed by the analytical and presentational skills of BTO staff aided by JNCC and the RSPB.
There are two main aspects on which I’d like to comment: content and presentation.
First, the content. There are the usual tables of recent and long-term changes in bird population numbers in the UK as a whole and in its four nations as sample sizes allow. There is also some interesting information for a few mammal species – have foxes really declined in numbers over the last 20 years? I’d be interested to know if there are any datasets independent of the BBS (which I wouldn’t have thought was the best way to monitor mammal numbers but might still be adequate) and whether they support or disagree with these findings. I can’t see anything particularly surprising in this update overall – but then monitoring doesn’t promise that there will be changes every year, only that it will pick up those changes if they do happen.
Let’s not forget that this is a monumental achievement of twinning volunteer effort and expertise with professional expertise and effort. Hardly anywhere in the world is such a report possible, and no other taxa in the UK are equally blessed. This isn’t unfair and it isn’t a fluke – it’s because birds are great and over a period of many decades birders and ornithologists have been great too. I’d like there to be equivalent reports on other taxa, butterflies are closest, but that shouldn’t make birders shy about what they have achieved.
I do wish though that there was a splatometer record of insect plankton going back 50 years, and a common plant index that was as good, and an earthworm database to interrogate and bat indices and…and…and…
Second, the presentation. Someone has put a lot of thought into the presentation of this report, I’m guessing that’s Sarah Harris (the BBS National Organiser) from the information on page 2, and it has really paid off. It’s crisp and clean, and friendly without being the least bit silly. A section heading of ‘More than just trendy graphs’ may have made some at The Nunnery wince (I wonder whether it did) but it made me smile and then read on with more interest. The graphs are clear, the tables (monumental though they are) are clear, the text is eminently readable, the photographs are well-chosen and the signposts to online content are excellent. The layout and style help the reader to stick with the content, to understand it and to want to turn the page. It demonstrates that the BTO is thinking about how to present science as well as how to do it. This report is another example of the BTO running towards the third decade of the century in a sure-footed manner with plenty to offer both its members and the statutory agencies and government bodies that should be heeding these results.
If you are a birder then I hope that you are a BTO member, and if you are a BTO member than I hope you ‘do’ a BBS square. There are vacancies for BBS Regional Organisers in South Essex, South Lancs, North London and Yorks (Leeds and Wakefield).
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Thanks Mark. Yes, credit to Sarah as you guessed, and no, I didn’t notice any wincing. I think the BTO’s moved on from that now…
And as ever, thanks to all the volunteers who make it possible.
The BTO have always been good, now they are outstanding, and continually improving. If I was told I could be a member of only one conservation NGO in the UK, it would be my BTO membership that I would continue. The work on migration, notably cuckoos, is superb, not only in its scientific quality but in how it is presented to a non-scientific audience. I recently upgraded my membership to a benefactor as I feel that the BTO squeeze every last penny out of my small contribution.
Thanks Rob – your committed support and recent upgrade are really appreciated. It’d be great if you could let us quote your kind words!
Hi Deb, sure, no problem.
I thought you might like to know that just at the moment I opened your blog this morning and saw the photo of the Nuthatch one of these delightful little birds was calling very loudly from the trees at the rear of our cottage! It added a whole new dimension to your excellent daily reports.
BTO – Bloomin’ Terrific Organisation!
We had an entire family of woodpeckers – mum dad and tw fledglings on our feeder a while back 🙂
I do hope that all birders consider becoming BTO members, but there is no need to be a BTO member (or a member of any other organisation) to take part in the BBS!