Overview
Ring ouzel, whinchat and twite are species of high conservation concern in the UK due to long-term declines in their breeding populations. Our work on these species begins with diagnosing the causes of decline. For long-distance migrants such as ring ouzel and whinchat we may need to consider possible effects across breeding, migration or wintering areas, or a combination of these. When we have sufficient understanding of the causes of decline we can trial solutions for their recovery.
For ring ouzel, we know that on their UK breeding grounds they require taller vegetation in which to conceal nests, and they forage for invertebrates in shorter, grassy areas in spring, and exploit dwarf-shrub areas for moorland berries in late summer. We are now experimentally deploying management on two of our reserves to deliver this mosaic of habitats and are examining the response of the local breeding populations.
For twite, the decline has been particularly severe in England, and here we are trialling solutions within a recovery project in the Pennines. This involves targeting of conservation measures close to breeding sites to increase resources of important seed foods and monitoring the performance of breeding birds.
For whinchat, our diagnostic research is currently focussing on the association between habitat quality and population change on UK breeding grounds.
