RSPB Science

New Arctic-breeding bird research hot off the press 🧪🪶

If you've found a dead bird in your garden please report it here: www.gardenwildlifehealth.org/gwh-database/. If researchers can use the carcass for testing they will provide further instructions, but if not, guidance on how to dispose of it can be found here: www.gardenwildlifehealth.org/what-if/

An RSPB Conservation Scientist in blue sterile gloves swabs a garden bird feeder to test for the presence of live trichomonad parasites.

Garden feeding stations can provide an opportunity for trichomonosis to spread between birds

By monitoring where outbreaks occur and taking samples from water baths and bird feeders, scientists can build a clearer picture of how the disease is spread

📷 Peter Medlicott

Trichmonosis is a disease which causes lesions in the throat, meaning birds cannot eat or drink normally

The disease commonly affects pigeons, doves and birds of prey but since 2005 has spread to finches causing large declines in UK Greenfinch and Chaffinch populations

An RSPB scientist in blue sterile gloves takes a sample of bird feed from a wooden bird feeing table.

Scientists can sample from gardens in England, Wales and Scotland

If your garden fulfils our sampling criteria and you wish to take part, a researcher will make contact and visit within a few days

Read on to learn more about trichomonosis

📷 Peter Medlicott

A female Greenfinch is perched on a branch looking unwell. Her feathers are fluffed up, which can be a sign of trichomonosis.

Help @rspbscience.bsky.social study bird disease (trichomonosis) outbreaks

If you see a sick or dead bird in your garden, please report it here: gardenwildlifehealth.org

@bto-gbw.bsky.social
@zslscience.bsky.social
📷 Ben Andrew

A greenshank walks alone through a lake, feeding on the invertebrates in the water.

Traditional angling lowered the number of trout in peatland lakes, increasing availability of invertebrates like freshwater shrimp.

This led to a 5x higher likelihood of birds such as mallard, teal, greenshank and dunlin being present.

tinyurl.com/mr2ejncj
📷 Chris Gomersall

A digger sits atop red-brown peatland vegetation, poised to continue its restoration work.

By using enhanced furrow blocking and tree felling techniques during peatland restoration, water table rise and vegetation recovery was faster than using standard approaches.

tinyurl.com/4u3u3z48
📷 Jake Stephen

The cylindrical Flows Viewing Tower at Forsinard Flows Nature Reserve, Scotland, sits on a flat landscape of wet peatland which stretches to the hills on the horizon. Two people walk the Dubh Lochan Trail back from the tower.

During forest-to-bog restoration at @rspbscotland.bsky.social Forsinard Flows, reprofiling (re-shaping degraded peat) sped up the return of sensitive waders and decline of woodland species. The first birds to return to the site were Meadow Pipit and Skylark.

tinyurl.com/yzs63apa
📷 Euan Myles

A single round leaved sundew plant (Drosera rotundifolia) sits in a bed of squishy looking moss.

Its #BogDay!
Let's celebrate by getting BOGged down in some papers 😉

Peatlands are key to carbon storage and flood management, but in the UK, many are in poor condition

Read on to hear about the nature benefits of bog restoration in Scotland’s Flow Country 🧪 🌍
📷 Ben Andrew

A dark brown bird sits on a branch with its wings outstretched.

Latest Cormorant indices released for England

The Cormorant population in England increased since monitoring began in the late 1980s. However, the latest results suggest a recent levelling off jncc.gov.uk/our-work/cor...

Long-term experiments in Scotland’s Flow Country show enhanced forest-to-bog restoration boosts early peatland recovery - vital for climate & biodiversity 🧪🌏

@rob-hughes-birder.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social

🔗

Hi Timothée, please can we be added to the science feed so we can share updates on our research. We mostly publish on conservation science and ornithology: www.rspb.org.uk/helping-natu...

International single species action plan for the conservation of the European turtle-dove Streptopelia turtur (2018 to 2028) - Publications Office of the EU The European turtle-dove (Streptopelia turtur) breeds across most of Europe, except the extreme north; and within the European Union (EU), only Ireland and Sweden do not have breeding populations. The...

Understanding Turtle Dove wintering habitat requirements is a key action within its International Single Species Action Plan: tinyurl.com/yx66cwj5

To learn more about Turtle Dove conservation visit: www.operationturtledove.org
@saveturtledoves.bsky.social

A composite photo illustrates the different land-uses in Turtle Dove wintering areas: It shows livestock grazing beneath trees near a river (top right), a thicket of acacia in short grassland (bottom right) and the local community of Beer-Sheba, in Senegal, harvesting peanuts (left).

Floodplain and riparian habitats are therefore key for wintering Turtle Doves

But land-use change, water extraction, and woody cover loss threaten these systems

Their restoration is vital for both biodiversity and local community resilience

Photo credit: Chris Orsman

An animation shows the tracked movement of one bird across eight different sites on the Sahel. The bird covers long distances, travelling first south into the Sahel (Site 1), East (Sites 2-4), then West to the coast (Sites 5-8) and North again.

How do Turtle Doves cope with extreme environmental changes during the Sahelian dry season?

Results suggest a southward shift in wintering range, likely in search of suitable habitat

Specifically, accessible water appears to be the key driver.

A photo of a flock of Turtle Doves in flight sits above a series of line graphs. These graphs show changes in habitat coverage, distance to river, rainfall, vegetation and temperature across the early (blue) and late (yellow) winter.

Results show wintering habitat was consistently associated with riparian mosaic landscapes

Characterised by open woodlands with grasslands and water access

Photo credit: Chris Orsman

A simple map of the West African savanna highlighting top to bottom: Sahelian acacia savanna (yellow), West Sudanian savanna (peach orange) and Guinean forest-savanna (green). To the right is highlighted the Inner Niger Delta flooded savanna (green). Across the map there are lots of red dots showing the overwintering location of the tracked Turtle Doves.

Turtle Doves spend ~60% of the year in the Sahel, but their winter ecology remains poorly understood

A Turtle Dove is held to camera with a small piece of tracking equipment fixed to its back. The bird has a grey head and breast with brown-black patterning on its wings creating a tortoiseshell-like pattern.

New paper: European Turtle Dove overwintering habitat in the Sahel 🪶

Results show birds rely on riparian forests and nearby grasslands

Read the full article by @rspbscience.bsky.social and @ofbiodiversite.bsky.social here:

doi.org/10.1111/ibi....
Photo: Chris Orsman

That’s great to hear! Citizen science generally means research which involves members of the public contributing to data collection, analysis or study design. For us, this could mean people getting involved in surveys or reporting when you see a wildlife disease incident.

Opportunities for Treescape Expansion in Upland Landscapes: Combining stakeholder visioning and spatially explicit land-use scenario planning - LUNZ Hub

Our piece in @lunz-hub.bsky.social blog on combining stakeholder visioning and spatially explicit land-use scenario planning to understand opportunities for treescape expansion🌳research from @uktreescapes.bsky.social @rspbscience.bsky.social STAND project lunzhub.com/resources/op...

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