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Predation and bird conservation in the UK
Despite the trials and tribulations of our daily lives, very few people on the planet are worried about being killed and eaten by another predatory species. However, for practically every other species on earth, predation is a real, daily threat.
Animals have evolved a wide range of defences, such as camouflage, vigilance, speed and armoury, to avoid ending up as someone else’s dinner. Predators, in turn, have evolved as impressive an array of adaptations to try to win the evolutionary arms race – keen senses, greater speed and greater power. The possibility of death to another species is, then, a fact of life.
But, what happens if new predators are added to the countryside, if the wild habitats of prey species are fragmented or other human impacts give one predator a competitive advantage? In our highly altered countryside, are there situations where predators are having a greater influence on populations of their prey than in a more natural landscape?
The RSPB has reviewed the scientific evidence on the impacts of predation on wild birds in the UK. The report The Predation of Wild Birds in the UK: a review of its conservation impact and management can be downloaded from this page. It concludes that:
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There is growing evidence that breeding populations of some ground-nesting birds, such as waders and gamebirds, are limited by predation
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The evidence that breeding songbird numbers are limited by predation is weak
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Killing predators can increase the numbers of their prey species by the end of the breeding season, but it less consistently increases their breeding numbers in subsequent years
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Many non-lethal solutions to reduce predation are available, including habitat management, but their efficacy is poorly known and more research is needed.
We are using the report to inform our future research programme and the management of bird conservation projects across the UK. We have invited others who have studied this complex subject and those with experience of managing habitats for birds for their views on its contents.
Last modified: 06 December 2007