Decline in the numbers of Eurasian Oystercatchers Haematopus ostralegus on the Exe estuary Special Protection Area

The Exe Estuary in Devon is a nationally important site for Oystercatchers wintering in the UK. However, the proportion of this species found in south-west England and wintering on the Exe declined from 60% in the late 1980s to 35% by the late 2010s. This study uses 45 years of data collected by volunteers taking part in the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) to investigate why.

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LifeCycle - Issue 13, Autumn 2024

Includes articles on monitoring Kestrels, highlights a Stonechat monitoring project in the New Forest and a Goosander-tagging project in Scotland, and sheds light on some unusual Rock Pipit nest locations in Cumbria.

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Improving acoustic species identification using data augmentation within a deep learning framework

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Watching Out for Waders: The Working for Waders Nest Camera Project

This report presents the results of a trial involving the use of trail cameras by land managers and other wader conservation stakeholders to monitor the outcome of wader nesting attempts. It presents the results of the trial and assesses the potential for the project to improve wader conservation knowledge and management.

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Annual Report & Accounts 2023/24

At a glance:During 2023—24 there were almost 9,000 downloads of BTO data from NBN Atlas, cumulatively totalling over 400 million records, and used for education, research and commercial purposes.Volunteers contributed 2,102,943 hours to our work in 2023, an increase of 7% compared with 2022 and the equivalent of 1,292 staff years and £42.6 million, an incredible contribution and powerful resourceThe 2024 Youth Summit, a collaboration between BTO’s Youth Advisory Panel, RSPB’s Youth Council, and WWF-UK’s Youth Ambassadors, empowered and inspired young people and organisations to do more.Thanks to our members, funders and supporters, £6.2 million was spent during the year carrying out, supporting and communicating our ornithological research and delivering engagement.During 2023—24, we received just over £2 million through gifts in Wills, something for which we are phenomenally grateful.Some 8,890 BTO volunteers have contributed to the BTO/JNCC/RSPB Breeding Bird Survey, which celebrated 30 years of survey visits in 2024 and now covers nearly 4,000 sites annually.

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