CONSERVATION RARE BREEDING BIRDS
The Rare Breeding Birds Panel is 50 years old. Here, its secretary, Dr Mark Eaton, explains why its vital work depends on ordinary birdwatchers
For 50 years, the Rare Breeding Bird Panel (RBBP) has played a significant role in bird conservation in the UK, but many birdwatchers are still unaware of us, or the work we do. So here, I’m going to shed light on the work of the RBBP, highlight its value, and encourage readers to contribute to our efforts that support the conservation of some of the UK's most special bird species.
The RBBP was formed, in 1972, as an independent body responsible for monitoring the UK’s rarest breeding birds, and held its first meeting in April 1973 – this means we are celebrating our golden anniversary this year. Funded by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the RSPB, with additional support from the BTO, the panel is a small group of experts which guides the work of a professional secretary (that’s me).
Our primary aims are to encourage the recording of rare breeding birds; collate all available data on breeding attempts by rare birds; archive that data securely to support conservation activities; and report annually on the status of all species of rare breeding bird in the UK.
While, in our early years, the panel focused just on the very rarest breeding birds, we now collect data on all species and races with fewer than 2,000 breeding pairs in the UK (and the Channel Isles and Isle of Man). This threshold means our work extends to species which are widespread and even relatively common in some areas – Avocet, Little Egret and Shoveler, for example – along with more ‘classically’ rare species such as Slavonian Grebe, Montagu’s Harrier, Red-backed Shrike, and many more.
There are 76 rare bird species which breed in the UK more or less every year, and nearly 40 more that have bred on at least one occasion (including 13 in hybrid pairs with closely related species, such as King Eider with Eider, and Pallid Harrier with Hen Harrier). On top of these, there are more than 50 species which have displayed breeding behaviour without going on to breed; these are often single male birds that establish territories far from home.
Most of these, such as the American Bittern that boomed in Suffolk, and an Asian Desert Warbler that sang on the Northumberland coast, have no chance of attracting a mate. But, just occasionally, like the first Little Egrets seen displaying and collecting sticks in the Isles of Scilly and Cornwall in 1993, they may be the sign of change to come.
