The latest report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) – Rare Breeding Birds in the UK in 2023 –celebrates the return of two species to the UK, with both being proven to breed in 2023 for the first time since the 1990s.
A pair of Hoopoes succeeded in raising three young from a nest in farmland in Leicestershire and Rutland. This distinctive species from southern Europe, its plumage a combination of salmon-pink and zebra stripes with a flamboyant crest, has bred sporadically in the UK for almost 200 years, but had been absent as a breeding species since 1996 when a pair bred in Wales. Before that there were four pairs in England in 1977, and there are a further 36 records of breeding in England dating back to 1835. The Hoopoe is a species of warm climates, being found from southern Europe across Asia as far as Japan, and south as far as sub-Saharan Africa. It breeds in nest holes in trees and sometimes buildings, and uses its long curved bill to search for invertebrates in the ground.
Further north, a pair of Temminck’s Stint laid four eggs at a wetland site in Highland in 2023, though unfortunately the nest was washed out by rising water levels. This tiny wading bird was a regular, although extremely rare, breeder at small a number of sites in northern Scotland between 1969 and 1997, before disappearing. Birds have been returning to a secret Scottish location since 2021, but 2023 was the first time that a nesting attempt was confirmed.
The RBBP report also reveals that 15 species reached record totals in 2023. These include the White-tailed Eagle, with 160 pairs reported in the UK. This eagle, the UK’s largest raptor, continues to increase in Scotland following a reintroduction programme which began in 1975. A more recent project has been releasing White-tailed Eagles on the Isle of Wight since 2019, resulting in a pair breeding in Sussex in 2023 – the first nest in England since 1780. Another recovering bird of prey, the Marsh Harrier, topped 500 pairs for the first time – when the RBBP first began monitoring the UK’s rarest breeding birds in 1973 there were just six breeding females.
Five species of large wading bird reached new peaks in 2023 – Crane, Spoonbill, Bittern, Great White Egret and Little Egret – thanks in part to targeted conservation action including the creation of new wetland sites, the restoration and management of existing sites and better legal protection.
As well as good news the new RBBP report rings the alarm bell for some species. In northern Scotland, numbers of Slavonian Grebes fell to just 16 pairs, the lowest total since the RBBP began reporting in 1973. Similarly, there were only six pairs of Redwings found in the UK in 2023, the lowest ever recorded. In both cases these lows reflect declines in the wider global populations of these northern species.
There have been widespread outbreaks of bird flu (Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza) in the UK’s wild bird populations since 2021, and the RBBP’s report shows the impacts on some rare breeding bird species. Numbers of Roseate Terns at the UK’s only colony on Coquet Island, Northumberland, fell from 154 pairs in 2022 to 118 pairs in 2023, following the death of 90 adults from bird flu during the 2022 breeding season – although subsequent monitoring by the RSPB has shown the population may be bouncing back rapidly. The number of Peregrine Falcons reported – the most widespread of the rare species the RBBP reports upon – fell by 18% between 2022 and 2023, with declines noted in 66 counties, and it may be that mortality from bird flu was a cause.
The Rare Breeding Birds Panel collects breeding data on all species of birds with fewer than 2,000 pairs breeding in the UK. It is one of JNCC’s 11 schemes that monitor species throughout the UK. These monitoring schemes provide the evidence base that underpins effective conservation action. They are critical to helping us understand how nature is faring and whether policies impacting conservation are being successful. These insights on the impact of policies on species, combined with other monitoring data, will also enable us to project the likely impact of conservation polices and their effectiveness.
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