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The story behind the red list

Maddy with a selection of potential food plants for cirl buntings, Devon
We're working on all kinds of projects to find out how to help our birds and wildlife

You've probably read about the latest birds to be added to the 'red list'. The cuckoo has joined other species like the grey partridge, house sparrow and turtle dove on the list of birds whose populations are in big trouble.

But what does being on the list actually mean? And what are we doing to help the birds affected? To find out, Katie talked to Dr Mark Eaton, one of the RSPB's Senior Conservation Scientists...

'We're data nerds!' admits Mark. 'We collect lots of data from various sources – like the Breeding Bird Survey, Wetland Bird Survey and Seabird Monitoring Programme – to analyse.

'We're looking for trends in populations, and other measures of how birds are doing in the UK, and also at what's going on globally. So birds that are listed by BirdLife International as being Globally Threatened go on our red list, for example.'

'Once we have the data, it's fairly straightforward to decide which birds are categorised as Red, Amber or Green. There are several criteria that we use to decide. We're very fussy and strict about it – it has to be independent and stand up to scrutiny.

'We've been doing lots of research on woodland birds recently, as the number of woodland species on the red list has continued to rise'

'There's no bending the rules. For example, the nightingale population has declined by 49 per cent over the past 25 years, which puts it on the amber list. If it were 50 per cent, it'd be on the red list!

'We'll keep monitoring them to see if the decline continues, and the fact they’re not on the red list doesn’t mean we won't act; we have many projects for species on the amber or even the green list.

'The peregrine has just joined the goshawk on the green list, but the RSPB’s Investigations Team is still working all-out to prevent the persecution of these magnificent species.'

When the data's been crunched and the birds categorised, what happens next? Mark explains: 'The lists help prioritise our conservation work. Once we know a species is in trouble, we start research to identify ways of stopping the decline. Then we can monitor its progress while we put into practice what we found out.'

What's the RSPB doing at the moment? 'We've been doing lots of research on woodland birds recently, as the number of woodland species on the red list has continued to rise. There are ongoing studies of lesser spotted woodpeckers and willow tits, and we've started a wood warbler project this spring.

Long-distance migrants

Male wood warbler singing
A new project to help wood warblers started in spring 2009

'Wood warblers are fantastic birds with a beautiful song – they migrate here across the Sahara. Since 1994, their population has declined 62 per cent, and now they're on the red list. The project only started about six weeks ago, but the team has already been busy finding out what insect food is available in their woods, and marking the birds with colour rings so we can see what individuals are doing.'

So far, so good. Though the cuckoo hogged all the headlines in the newspapers and on TV, there are lots of other stories behind the red list. It's great news that stone-curlews, goggly-eyed, farmland-dwelling wading birds, have made it from the red list to amber.

'Stone-curlews have been a fantastic success story,' says Mark. 'They were red-listed, so we did research to find out what was going on, and found that loss of their nests was one of the key factors. Then we took action to help them.

'It's literally hands-on, practical work. Farmers in the right areas get government funding to create 'stone-curlew plots' – patches of habitat within arable fields just right for the birds. Then, when the farmers need to spray crops or whatever, they give us a call and someone goes to move the nest – eggs, chicks and all – to safety, and back again afterwards.'

Keeping up the good work

Despite that good news, they're not out of the woods yet. 'Stone-curlews are still conservation-dependent. If we stopped all the work tomorrow, the population would drop again. So we need to keep up the effort we're putting in, long-term, and also to concentrate on boosting numbers by providing more semi-natural grassland habitat where birds can breed undisturbed.'

Though the number of birds on the red list has grown, there's more to it than meets the eye, as Mark explains: 'The corncrake is a good example. They're still red-listed, but their population is growing. We've found that something as simple as farmers changing the method they use to mow their fields can really help. But we're not leaving it at that; there's a corncrake survey happening this year and that will help us assess their progress.'

What can we do?

Don't think that helping these birds needs to be left to scientists. There are things you can do at home. You can help house sparrows by making your garden insect-friendly, and assist amber-listed swifts by putting up nestboxes or leaving room for them in your roof.

But for some species, there's not much we can do to help them directly. Cuckoos don't use nestboxes and neither do skylarks. Bitterns eat fish and black grouse breed on remote moorlands.

The best way you can help these birds is by supporting our work. If you're already a member, thanks! We couldn't do any of this without you. If you're not, why not add your voice to ours and stand up for nature?