Caption: Conservation Scientist Will Kirby swabbing for signs of trichomonosis on a garden bird feeder. Alt text: Scientist wearing blue latex gloves pressing a swab against the surface of a bird feeding containing peanuts.

Research has shown a worrying decline in some of our much-loved garden birds due to a disease called trichomonosis.

This is a highly contagious disease and can spread where birds gather in large numbers such as at bird feeders.

See our website for the latest guidance: brnw.ch/21x1t4w

How to feed your garden birds without spreading disease Summer feeding should be paused because this is a time when natural food sources such as caterpillars, bugs and flies, are much more abundant.

We have just updated our guidance on what and when to feed garden birds: Feed seasonally. Feed safely.

To reduce disease, we all need to make some urgent but simple changes to how we feed our garden birds.

RSPB scientist @richgreg3.bsky.social explains more: tinyurl.com/mnt284ck
🧪 🪶

1/ The latest 2024/25 Waterbirds in the UK report has just been published and can be viewed online www.bto.org/wituk 🎉

Physical copies will be reaching your doorsteps very soon! 🗞️

To view the updated numbers and trends, visit www.bto.org/webs-reporting

#Ornithology #CitSci

A Mistle Thrush on the ground shows its brown back, greyish nape and crown and spotted breast and belly. To the left, white wording on a blue background reads: Out now! The latest population trends for breeding birds in the UK. The BBS logo featuring a Goldfinch is top right of the image.

1/ The 2025 BBS Report is out now! It was a record year for volunteers taking part, with 2,800+ visiting 4,058 survey squares across the UK, Channel Islands & Isle of Man. A huge thank you to our volunteers!

@btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social #Ornithology

To allow Band-rumped Storm Petrels to select the waters they prefer, it is essential that the entire 200 nautical mile zone around St Helena is protected

The birds flew far beyond the border of the protected area, which highlights the need to manage oceans sustainably beyond small protected areas

From figure 1 from the paper. Caption: Individual tracks showing foraging trips of Band-rumped Storm Petrels tracked with GPS loggers from St Helena between 2017 and 2019 during the cool (blue) or hot (orange) breeding seasons. The black diamond indicates the location of St Helena Island, and the black circle indicates a 200 nautical mile marine protected area for scale reference.

Results show that Band-rumped Storm Petrels forage in different directions from the island: cool season breeders prefer to forage in warm water, and hot season breeders prefer to forage in cool water.

Caption: The research team working at the Band-rumped Storm Petrel breeding colony on Egg Island, an islet off St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Alt text: A view from above of research scientists descending a steep rocky slope above the sea. Credit: Steffen Oppel

St Helena is home to Band-rumped Storm Petrels. Individual birds breed either in the hot or the cool season. Over time these two breeding populations may split into two species

Scientists used GPS tags to investigate whether or not they forage in the same places but at different times of the year

Caption: Mist-nets were used to capture Band-rumped Storm Petrels at their breeding colony on Egg Island, an islet off St Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean. Alt text: The sun is setting over the sea. Mist nets are strung between vertical poles. A Band-rumped Storm Petrel is silhouetted in flight above the net. Credit: Steffen Oppel

New research shows that, as well as breeding at different times of the year, populations of Band-rumped Storm Petrels on St Helena forage in different places.

Read on for a summary

Full paper: doi.org/10.1186/s40462-026-00633-1

@bas.ac.uk
🧪 🌎️ 🪶
#seabirds

The image announces the publication of the Seabird Population Trends and Causes of Change: 1986-2024 report. The main image displays a pair of Kittiwakes and features the logos of the SMP, BTO, JNCC, and RSPB.

We’re pleased to announce the release of the 2024 Seabird Monitoring Programme report, in partnership with JNCC, in association with the RSPB.

Click here to read the report: www.bto.org/our-work/sci...

Read on for key findings ⬇️
#seabirds @btobirds.bsky.social @jncc.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social

Bullrush, reed mace and cattail are actually all different common names for the same group of plants which belong to the genus Typha and are used in paludiculture.

Paludiculture site in Netherlands growing bulrush (Typha sp.).

Whilst paludiculture cannot replace wetland restoration, it has the potential to help deliver nature-positive, climate-resilient landscapes while supporting communities into the future

Full paper: doi.org/10.1002/2688...

FAWG SW project: www.paludiculture.org.uk/fwagsw

FWAG SW and RSPB paludiculture trials, Somerset.

Paludiculture is still early in development in the UK, requiring more investment and advisory support

A project led by the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group (FWAG) South West, in collaboration with the RSPB, is working to develop best practice for establishing and managing bulrush crops

A Sedge Warbler perches amongst reeds.

Results showed paludiculture sites contained three times more birds than drained agricultural grassland sites, including several threatened bird species

Paludiculture sites also contained a mix of wetland and grassland specialist bird species, creating a unique bird community

Bulrush (Typha sp.) being grown in the Netherlands by paludiculture.

Researchers compared bird numbers and communities across three different sites in the Netherlands:
- Wetlands
- Paludiculture sites growing bulrush (Typha), a crop used for insulation
- Drained agricultural grasslands

Paludiculture site in Netherlands growing bulrush (Typha sp.)

Paludiculture is a farming approach which uses wetland adapted crops to enable agriculture on wetter soils

By keeping peatland soils wet, carbon emissions from the soil can be reduced, creating a win-win for farming and climate

However new research shows this approach may also benefit birds

Typha‐based paludiculture offers potential for greater bird species abundance and diversity than drained agricultural grassland Re-wetting drained peat for Typha paludiculture provides a productive, low-emission land use that can support diverse bird communities. Across 28 sites in the Netherlands, breeding bird abundance in ...

New research shows that farming adapted to wetter soils could benefit bird communities

Sites contained 3X more birds than drained grasslands

Story: www.cam.ac.uk/research/new...
Paper: doi.org/10.1002/2688...

Read on for a summary…

@clr-cambridge.bsky.social
@aer-ese-bes.bsky.social

BirdWatch Ireland CEO Andrew Kelly & BTO CEO Juliet Vickery are sitting at a table outside smiling as they get ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.

RSPB Chief Executive Beccy Speight & BTO CEO Juliet Vickery are sitting together at a table in the David Attenborough Building in Cambridge holding pens ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.

BTO CEO Juliet Vickery & Scottish Ornithologists Club President Ruth Briggs are sitting at a table smiling and holding pens ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31.

BTO CEO Juliet Vickery & Welsh Ornithological Society Chair Anne Brenchley are sitting at a table together looking down and holding pens as they get ready to sign a partnership agreement for the Bird Atlas 2027–31. Wildlife and nature themed artwork hangs on the wall behind them.

1/ Five leading charities forge partnership for bird conservation for the Bird Atlas 2027–31! 🐦 But what is the Bird Atlas? ⬇️🧵 #Ornithology

@btobirds.bsky.social @birdwatchireland.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social @scottishbirding.bsky.social @birdsinwales.bsky.social

New research🪶#seabirds

Gough Island. Credit: Kate Lawrence.

The detection of HPAIV on Gough Island is a stark reminder of the vulnerability of remote ecosystems to infectious diseases, and for the need to alleviate already persisting pressures on globally important seabird populations.

Figure 4 from the paper. Caption: Kernel utilization distributions (KUDs) showing the combined home-range (95% UD; lighter shading) and core (50% UD; darker shading) foraging areas of tracked Tristan skuas during (a) the pre-laying exodus (green), breeding (purple), and non-breeding periods (orange) across the 2017/18 and 2018/19 seasons, overlaid on major oceanic frontal features.

The scavenging behaviour of birds such as skuas and giant petrels increases viral transmission risk through close contact with carcasses and other scavengers.

These highly pelagic birds may therefore serve both as reservoirs and vectors for disease transmission across the Southern Ocean and beyond.

Figure 3 from the paper. Caption: Time series showing the distance from the colony of GLS-tracked Tristan skuas (8) during the 2017/18 and 2018/19 breeding seasons, across key stages of the annual cycle.

Samples from Gough showed the virus was most closely related to those found in South Georgia.

Tracking data then revealed the likely route, showing Tristan Skuas disperse South of the island in the pre-laying period, sharing feeding grounds with distant populations, including South Georgia.

A Tristan Skua (Stercorarius antarcticus hamiltoni) with a GLS device attached to its leg. Credit Jamie Cleeland.

The death of four Tristan Skuas on Gough Island in September 2024 marks the virus’s arrival at one of the world’s most important seabird breeding sites.

By combining phylogenetic analyses of the virus with tracking data from individual birds, scientists investigated the most likely incursion route.

A rainbow forms over Gough Island

First confirmed cases of High Pathogenicity Avian Influenza Virus (HPAIV) on Gough Island represent one of the most geographically isolated detections of HPAIV to date. But how did it get there?

Read on for a summary

Full paper: doi.org/10.1080/2222...

🧪🪶🌍
#seabirds

🌍A decade after IUCN launched the Global Standard for #KBAs, a new paper led by @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social takes stock of progress.

📍16,596 KBAs
🌱22.1 million km²
🦋18,365 trigger species

Discover more 🔗 onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/...

For many farmers, the transition to NFF was blocked by lack of structural enablers, such as local butchers, markets or ethical co-operatives

Successful NFF therefore requires social, economic and political support, including greater investment in local supply chains and links to consumer values

Results showed NFF relied on farmers with high environmental and social values

These farmers often sold directly to customers or otherwise diversified their income streams to survive economically

However, NFF was often seen as an economic luxury, only possible for the financially secure

However, despite some successes, AES availability alone has not been sufficient to reduce widespread farmland biodiversity loss

To understand drivers behind adoption of NFF practices, researchers conducted 42 qualitative interviews, to identify factors which most influenced farming decisions

Agricultural policies during the mid-1930-80s incentivised productivity with little environmental regulation, leading to a loss of habitat quality and biodiversity in farms

Agri-Environment Schemes (AES) sought to rectify this through financially supporting Nature Friendly Farming (NFF) practices

A field margin at RSPB Hope Farm.

New research shows personal values are a key driver in the adoption of Nature Friendly Farming (NFF) practices

Blockers to adoption of NFF included lack of local supply chain networks and perceived economic losses

Read on for a summary 🧪

Full paper here: doi.org/10.1007/s104...

📷Ben Andrew

Scaling up nature recovery in Europe: eight new large-scale restoration projects receive funding from the ELSP | Endangered Landscapes & Seascapes Programme

Iceland’s Mýrar wetlands provide vital habitat for migratory birds and fish but they have been degraded by decades of drainage and land conversion.

RSPB and Fuglavernd/BirdLife Iceland are working to restore them thanks to new funding from @endangeredlands.bsky.social

More: tinyurl.com/y3yrtkjh