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EBCC NewsletterWinter 2024 |
|  | Photo by Jiří Parůžek
Dear reader, The last three months have seen many EBCC activities. Several physical and online meetings have been held by working groups and the EBCC Board. You find some reports on them in this newsletter. The organisers of the Riga Conference in spring 2025 are also active. There is new information available on the scientific programme and on the possibility to apply for financial support for attending. Don’t forget to register by 15 January to benefit from early-bird rates! There is also news on EBBA2: When travelling across Europe in recent years I would often have liked to check the EBBA2 maps, but with the heavy book at home and without internet connection consulting this was often impossible. There is now a solution to this! The EBBA2 maps have just been added to the iOS and Android app of the “Svensson Bird Guide”.
I wish you all a nice festive season!
Verena Keller, Chair, EBCC |
|  |  | Riga Conference: register now! |
| The 23rd EBCC conference will be held from 31 March to 4 April 2025 in Riga, Latvia. Note the deadline for abstract submission for posters and early bird registration: January 15, 2025. The Bird Numbers conferences provide an opportunity to meet colleagues from across Europe. However, the EBCC Board is aware that the costs of attending are a limiting factor. The Board, therefore, offers financial support to a limited number of participants. Find out more on the conference website. We believe the upcoming EBCC conference will be both successful and inspiring, and we eagerly await the opportunity to welcome you to Riga. |
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| |  | | The PECBMS updated the bird trends and Wild Bird Indices on Wednesday, 11 December. The 2024 update is based on data from 30 European countries showing the rate of change in the relative abundance of wild birds from 1980 to 2023. Unfortunately, there has been no significant improvement since the last update. All European birds monitored by PECBMS declined by 18%, and forest birds by 8%. The worst situation is traditionally in farmland birds. The European Farmland Bird Index decline from 1980 is 60%. Let’s hope that targeted species protection and EU policies such as the Nature Restoration Regulation will help to reverse the trend. |
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| |  | EBP Meeting and LIFE Reinforcement Workshop in Podgorica |
| The EBP community met in Podgorica, Montenegro, from 28 to 30 October to discuss the progress of the overall EBP project and news from the current LIFE Reinforcement project. We are happy to say that 36 participants from 18 countries joined us, and we had many fruitful discussions and conclusions regarding the current LIFE project and the direction EBP is heading. |
| | EBBA2 maps now available in Collins Bird Guide App!
In collaboration with the EBCC, the company Nature Guides has added EBBA2 maps to the “Svensson” App, commonly referred to as “Collins Bird Guide” in English, “Kosmos Vogelführer” in German, etc. Like their existing maps of the UK and Germany, the EBBA2 maps are available as in-app purchases. By buying the EBBA2 maps you will also support the EBCC as part of the income will be shared with us. |
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| | Rare Breeding Birds in the UK: 2022 Highlights
The latest Rare Breeding Birds Panel report, published in November in British Birds, details 108 rare and scarce native bird taxa breeding or showing breeding signs in the UK in 2022 – the second-highest number recorded. Highlights include the first breeding of Glossy Ibis in Cambridgeshire and expansions by species colonising from southern Europe. However, species like Montagu’s Harrier and Marsh Warbler are critically low, with Fieldfare absent entirely. The report provides population data, trends, and records by country, including 14 rare non-native species. |
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|  | Scientific action spurs a start of Turtle Dove population recovery
The temporary hunting suspension of the European Turtle Dove, implemented in 2021 based on a recommendation by scientists led by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), has driven a remarkable recovery of this globally threatened species. The ban followed a steep population decline in the western flyway, rebounding by 25% to 1.96 million breeding pairs in just two years, according to the PECBMS data. A study published in Conservation Letters highlights this success and contrasts it with continued declines in the central-eastern flyway, where only partial hunting reductions were applied. This approach, based on adaptive harvest management and sound science, serves as a model for conserving other vulnerable species across Europe. |
| | | Summary of the recent bird monitoring in Poland
On 10 December, the latest bulletin summarising the results of work carried out within the Monitoring of Common Birds of Poland (MPP) framework in the breeding seasons 2021–2023 and migration-winter seasons 2021/22–2023/24 was released. The publication, with an English summary, contains results from 34 monitoring programs, including four new ones that began in 2021: Common Urban Bird Survey, Mountain Bird Survey, Marsh Tern Survey, and Meadow Waders Survey. Surveys within the 28 programs devoted to breeding birds made it possible to analyse the abundance of 182 nesting species in Poland. In turn, six programs carried out from autumn to spring covered 38 migratory and wintering species. The results indicate stability in the abundance of 19 breeding species, population increases in 44 species and declines in 35. Trend analyses revealed a steadily deteriorating situation for farmland and wetland birds while the abundance of common forest birds increased. |
| |  | Albania Launches Milestone Census for Breeding Bird Monitoring
The Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) launched Albania’s first International Census Plot for Breeding Birds under the Common Bird Monitoring Scheme (CBMS). In 2024, six experts surveyed seven 2 × 2 km plots, recording 1,064 observations of 107 species. This initiative uses CBMS methodologies to track bird population trends, providing vital data on species distribution and habitat use. The project supports national conservation strategies and integrates Albania into broader European conservation efforts, highlighting the importance of standardised monitoring for birdlife protection. Another Albanian NGO, PPNEA, also participates actively in the International Census Plots and will contribute to the common data set of monitoring data from the country. |
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|  | New Barn Owl breeding locations in Ukraine
Following the Breeding Bird Atlas of Ukraine (2021), two new breeding sites of the Common Barn Owl Tyto alba guttata were found in northern and eastern Ukraine. In October 2023, owls bred in Lyman, Donetsk region, with two chicks found; one survived after rehabilitation and was released in Kyiv in 2024. In spring 2024, six chicks were observed in Korostyshiv, Zhytomyr region. These sites now mark the most northeastern breeding records for the species in Ukraine and Europe. |
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|  | What will the northern bird species composition be?
Common bird monitoring data from Finland, Norway, and Sweden have been used in Sirke Piirainen's PhD thesis at the University of Helsinki, Finland. The thesis has, for example, examined how difficult it is to predict species population changes in the future and what kind of species are predicted to increase or decrease in North Europe. |
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| | Rare Bird Discoveries at Albania’s Orikum Ornithological Station
The Orikum Ornithological Station, run by the Albanian Ornithological Society (AOS) and Hungarian ornithologists since 2019, recorded two new species for Albania this autumn: the Black-faced Bunting Emberiza spodocephala and the Siberian Chiffchaff Phylloscopus tristis. Annually, the station rings around 80 species and 2,000 individuals in the Orikum reedbed, a vital stopover for migratory birds. These efforts provide key insights into migration patterns and emphasise the importance of coastal wetlands in supporting bird populations and ecosystem health. |
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