annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB
annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB
annual report and accounts 2012 - RSPB
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<strong>RSPB</strong> trustees’ <strong>report</strong> <strong>and</strong> <strong>accounts</strong> 2011-12<br />
Trustees’ <strong>report</strong><br />
Conservation – research, policy <strong>and</strong> advisory<br />
Status of priority bird species in the UK <strong>and</strong> abroad<br />
Objective Achievement Future challenges<br />
We will continue<br />
our work to<br />
maintain or<br />
enhance the<br />
populations of<br />
priority bird<br />
species.<br />
The sheer scale of our ambition for returning endangered species<br />
to a safer state is breathtaking. We celebrated some great successes<br />
this year.<br />
Most birds released by the Great Crane Project in 2010 survived<br />
the harsh 2010-11 winter, <strong>and</strong> 17 young birds were reared <strong>and</strong><br />
released from 20 eggs in 2011. The two generations are getting on<br />
well together in the wild, boding well for future breeding.<br />
We will continue to tackle<br />
factors that prevent rare<br />
species recovering,<br />
including a seeming<br />
inability to stop illegal<br />
persecution despite action<br />
by government agencies,<br />
the police <strong>and</strong> ourselves.<br />
A survey of breeding waders of wet meadows reinforced the<br />
importance of reserves <strong>and</strong> protected areas, for redshanks in<br />
particular, on lowl<strong>and</strong> wet grassl<strong>and</strong>. We use the results to<br />
continue to stress this in our advocacy <strong>and</strong> advisory work.<br />
We completed initial research on the needs <strong>and</strong> problems for<br />
redshanks on saltmarsh, too, <strong>and</strong> continue to be at the forefront of<br />
large-scale work to create more of this fragile habitat, replacing<br />
areas lost to sea level rise <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong> claim.<br />
Common scoters remain amongst our rarest breeding birds,<br />
following a rapid decline, but numbers remained fairly stable <strong>and</strong><br />
at least 21 young were reared. This helped us unravel their food<br />
<strong>and</strong> feeding dynamics. Conifer plantations can have a major<br />
impact on scoter habitat on Scottish moors; we removed another<br />
35 hectares of these trees next to two important breeding lochs.<br />
We must address the slow<br />
progress in establishing<br />
marine protected areas; a<br />
lack of progress on<br />
wildlife-friendly<br />
management at a<br />
l<strong>and</strong>scape scale in our<br />
upl<strong>and</strong>s; <strong>and</strong> the<br />
continuing pressure on<br />
funds for our crucial work<br />
to identify why species<br />
such as some woodl<strong>and</strong><br />
birds, seabirds <strong>and</strong> upl<strong>and</strong><br />
breeding waders are<br />
declining.<br />
Healthier bird populations in the countryside outside nature reserves<br />
Objective Achievement Future challenges<br />
We will continue<br />
our work to<br />
stabilise or<br />
increase farml<strong>and</strong><br />
bird populations.<br />
It was another record-breaking year in 2011 for our arable<br />
demonstration project at Hope Farm, Cambridgeshire. Breeding<br />
birds have more than doubled since 2000, while crops continue to<br />
bring in a profit. It can be done!<br />
We are encouraged by the amount of l<strong>and</strong> in arable stewardship<br />
in Engl<strong>and</strong>, but more is needed. The importance of face-to-face<br />
advice to farmers has been backed up by independent research.<br />
We learned more about causes of bird declines <strong>and</strong> practical ideas<br />
being tested in pastoral systems are bringing results, building on<br />
the arable work at Hope Farm.<br />
One huge challenge is to turn around the fortunes of upl<strong>and</strong><br />
waders. We are still working out why curlews <strong>and</strong> lapwings are<br />
declining on upl<strong>and</strong> farms, so that we can find ways to turn the<br />
situation around. In the South Pennines we are working hard on a<br />
quite different bird: an engaging little finch, the twite. Unusually,<br />
twites need an abundance of seeds all year, even feeding their<br />
young on seeds: we helped more farmers to create hay meadows,<br />
creating a source of seeds through the spring <strong>and</strong> summer. Our<br />
advocacy around the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy<br />
(CAP) is extremely encouraging, with better conservation on the<br />
ground, <strong>and</strong> vital income for farmers who care for wildlife.<br />
We underst<strong>and</strong> what many<br />
lowl<strong>and</strong> farml<strong>and</strong> birds<br />
need, but still face<br />
significant challenges in<br />
making sure enough of the<br />
right measures are put into<br />
place at an adequate scale.<br />
We will remain vigilant to<br />
the risks involved in the<br />
detail of CAP reform, as it<br />
progresses through<br />
Europe, to ensure that<br />
birds <strong>and</strong> their habitats<br />
don’t lose out.<br />
8 www.rspb.org.uk