annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB

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RSPB trustees’ report and accounts 2011-12 Trustees’ report Status of other special wildlife in the UK and on RSPB reserves Objective Achievement Future challenges We will maintain or improve the conservation status of special animals and plants on our nature reserves. Our reserves are marvellous places for a host of wildlife in addition to birds. We take our responsibilities for conserving them very seriously. We learned a lot through surveys, some by trainees employed under the HLF Nature Counts programme. We knew the rare beetle Omophron limbatum lived beside pools at Dungeness, but our ecologists discovered it in a new area of East Anglia, which presumably indicates a second, independent colonisation of Britain. A spectacular beetle, Calosoma inquisitor, the “caterpillarhunter”, was discovered at South Stack in Anglesey. It has been lost from a number of its ancient woodland sites and there are no previous records from Anglesey, making this an exciting find. Trainee researchers in Scotland found a new colony of Orthotrichum obtusifolium at Insh Marshes, a rare tree-trunk moss of eastern Scotland. It was lost from England more than 100 years ago, but it has been found again in East Anglia, so might be re-colonising. Translocation programmes included further releases of field crickets, pine hoverfly and pearl-bordered fritillary and we are establishing ladybird spiders at Arne. We are inviting specialists in particular groups of species to visit reserves, to help assess the needs of rare and scarce species and advise us on their management. We will develop plans for priority species where we can conserve them on reserves. All designated land on RSPB reserves in good condition Objective Achievement Future challenges Where their condition is within our control, all Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), or Areas of Special Scientific Interest in Northern Ireland, on our nature reserves will be in Favourable condition or classed as Recovering. In England, virtually all – 99.996% – of the area of SSSI land for which the RSPB is responsible for carrying out the remedies is in Favourable or Recovering condition, a splendid achievement. In Scotland, 95% of the features for which we are responsible for carrying out remedies are in Favourable condition (a few are affected by factors elsewhere, beyond our control such as seabirds nesting on RSPB reserves, which are affected by feeding conditions away from their nest sites). For Wales and Northern Ireland, we rely on information from the Countryside Council for Wales and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency respectively, to make our assessments, and at the time of reporting, this is incomplete. We will continue to focus attention and provide suitable resources to maintain or improve the status of land currently classified as being in Favourable, or Unfavourable Recovering, condition. www.rspb.org.uk 7
RSPB trustees’ report and accounts 2011-12 Trustees’ report Conservation – research, policy and advisory Status of priority bird species in the UK and abroad Objective Achievement Future challenges We will continue our work to maintain or enhance the populations of priority bird species. The sheer scale of our ambition for returning endangered species to a safer state is breathtaking. We celebrated some great successes this year. Most birds released by the Great Crane Project in 2010 survived the harsh 2010-11 winter, and 17 young birds were reared and released from 20 eggs in 2011. The two generations are getting on well together in the wild, boding well for future breeding. We will continue to tackle factors that prevent rare species recovering, including a seeming inability to stop illegal persecution despite action by government agencies, the police and ourselves. A survey of breeding waders of wet meadows reinforced the importance of reserves and protected areas, for redshanks in particular, on lowland wet grassland. We use the results to continue to stress this in our advocacy and advisory work. We completed initial research on the needs and problems for redshanks on saltmarsh, too, and continue to be at the forefront of large-scale work to create more of this fragile habitat, replacing areas lost to sea level rise and land claim. Common scoters remain amongst our rarest breeding birds, following a rapid decline, but numbers remained fairly stable and at least 21 young were reared. This helped us unravel their food and feeding dynamics. Conifer plantations can have a major impact on scoter habitat on Scottish moors; we removed another 35 hectares of these trees next to two important breeding lochs. We must address the slow progress in establishing marine protected areas; a lack of progress on wildlife-friendly management at a landscape scale in our uplands; and the continuing pressure on funds for our crucial work to identify why species such as some woodland birds, seabirds and upland breeding waders are declining. Healthier bird populations in the countryside outside nature reserves Objective Achievement Future challenges We will continue our work to stabilise or increase farmland bird populations. It was another record-breaking year in 2011 for our arable demonstration project at Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire. Breeding birds have more than doubled since 2000, while crops continue to bring in a profit. It can be done! We are encouraged by the amount of land in arable stewardship in England, but more is needed. The importance of face-to-face advice to farmers has been backed up by independent research. We learned more about causes of bird declines and practical ideas being tested in pastoral systems are bringing results, building on the arable work at Hope Farm. One huge challenge is to turn around the fortunes of upland waders. We are still working out why curlews and lapwings are declining on upland farms, so that we can find ways to turn the situation around. In the South Pennines we are working hard on a quite different bird: an engaging little finch, the twite. Unusually, twites need an abundance of seeds all year, even feeding their young on seeds: we helped more farmers to create hay meadows, creating a source of seeds through the spring and summer. Our advocacy around the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is extremely encouraging, with better conservation on the ground, and vital income for farmers who care for wildlife. We understand what many lowland farmland birds need, but still face significant challenges in making sure enough of the right measures are put into place at an adequate scale. We will remain vigilant to the risks involved in the detail of CAP reform, as it progresses through Europe, to ensure that birds and their habitats don’t lose out. 8 www.rspb.org.uk
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