The population status of the UK's1 birds

 

The leading governmental and non-governmental conservation organisations in the UK have reviewed the population status of the birds that are regularly found here.

 
A total of 247 species has been assessed, and each has been placed onto one of three lists - red, amber or green. Forty species are red-listed, 121 are amber-listed and 86 are green-listed.
 
The lists update earlier assessments, Birds of conservation concern and Birds of conservation importance, which were published in 1996. The population status of birds is reviewed every five years to keep track of changes in abundance and range. The new lists are based on the most up-to-date information available, principally:
 
  • information on the global and European conservation status of UK bird species from BirdLife International's Threatened Birds of the World and Birds in Europe
  • information on trends in breeding populations and range sizes from the BTO2/JNCC3 Common Birds Census and Waterways Bird Survey; the BTO/JNCC/RSPB4 Breeding Bird Survey; the JNCC/RSPB/SOTEAG5 seabird monitoring programme and Seabird 2000; the Rare Breeding Birds Panel; single-species surveys, mostly undertaken as part of the SCARABBS6 agreement; and the BTO/SOC7/IWC8 New Atlas of Breeding Birds
  • information on population trends in non-breeding waterbirds from the WWT9/BTO/JNCC/RSPB Wetland Bird Survey and WWT/JNCC goose counts
  • information on species' distributions from BirdLife's Important Bird Areas in Europe and JNCC's The UK SPA Network
  • information on population sizes in the UK and Europe from the Avian Population Estimates Panel and BirdLife/EBCC's10 European Bird Populations: Estimates and Trends.

Footnotes

1 This review covers the UK, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man.
2 British Trust for Ornithology
3 Joint Nature Conservation Committee
4 The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
5 Shetland Oil Terminal Environmental Advisory Group
6 Statutory Conservation Agencies and RSPB Annual Breeding Bird Scheme
7 Scottish Ornithologists' Club
8 Irish Wildbird Conservancy (now BirdWatch Ireland)
9 The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
10 European Bird Census Council
11 The World Conservation Union
12 However, globally threatened species and those with populations of fewer than 100 breeding pairs in the UK remain red-listed.