Theme: Biodiversity Losses and Gains: Are We on Target?
The Convention on Biological Diversity was ratified by the United Kingdom on 3rd June 1994. At the same time, the treaty was extended to the Bailiwick of Jersey alongside other crown dependencies and overseas territories. This conference will be based around the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 goals, including Aichi Biodiversity Targets
Over the two days you will hear about local conservation efforts and Jersey’s overseas efforts to safeguard biodiversity. There will be workshops run by Jersey Overseas Aid and the Jersey Biodiversity Centre and also an opportunity for attendees to discuss how Jersey is doing with respect to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets as well as providing suggestions for the future.
Covering topics include:
Theme 1: Biodiversity Loss
Theme 2: Reducing the pressures on biodiversity and promoting Sustainable use
Theme 3: Safeguarding ecosystems, species and genetic diversity
Theme 4: Enhancing the benefits from biodiversity and ecosystem services
Theme 5: Planning, knowledge management and capacity building.
On Thursday 21st November evening we will be holding drinks in the Jersey Museum concourse.
As always there are far too many photos to feature in the monthly reports. Here are some of the photos taken over June and July giving you an insight into the daily life of the young choughs in Jersey. You can tell which are the youngsters by the colour of their bill. It takes a couple of months to achieve the adults red colouration.
Climate change is a major global threat to humanity and nature. It threatens to undermine our water and food supplies, it’s fueling extreme weather and some mega-cities are predicted to disappear under rising sea levels.
So conservationists were flummoxed by studies which showed climate change is having a stronger effect upon species which benefit from climate change compared to those which suffer negative impacts.
The authors of a major study investigating 525 bird species over 30 years and across two continents believed there could be a time lag in the response of populations to climate change, creating an ‘extinction debt’. They were also concerned most studies cover time spans too short to pick up on shrinking habitat ranges and focused on changes in range, rather than change in numbers.
But the most detailed report of its kind to date has turned theories about the effects of climate change upon birds on their head.
Despite carefully examining the population trends of over 500 bird species over three decades, the researchers found no evidence climate change has a more profound effect upon birds which should cope well with climate change compared to those which might struggle. Climate change is causing widespread population change in birds.
The researchers called for further research into the long-term consequences of climate change on wildlife to be commissioned urgently.
Earlier this month a landmark paper inScience (read about it here) suggested the loss of nearly 3 billion birds in North America over the last fifty years linked to a range of factors, such as habitat loss and intensive agriculture, were all exacerbated by climate change. The new study, led by the RSPB, goes even further and argues climate change may be a major driver of population change in birds, aggravated by other factors.
Head of Species Monitoring and Research, Conservation Science at the RSPB, Prof. Richard Gregory said: “Our precious wildlife is already struggling to cope with habitat destruction, farming practices, pollution, harmful fishing and invasive non-native species humans have introduced into fragile eco-systems.
“The climate crisis and biodiversity crisis are two sides of the same coin and need to be tackled together.
Scientists from around Europe contributed to the report, which was led by the RSPB.
Download the full paper Population responses of bird populations to climate change on two continents vary with species’ ecological traits but not with direction of change in climate suitability here
There is further alarming news from North America where Audubon scientists took advantage of 140 million observations, recorded by birders and scientists, to describe where 604 North American bird species live today. They then used the latest climate models to project how each species’ range will shift as climate change and other human impacts advance across the continent.
The results are clear: Birds will be forced to relocate to find favourable homes. And they may not survive. Read their report Survival by Degrees: 389 Bird Species on the Brink here
And feeling like you can’t make a difference? That couldn’t be further from the truth. Here’s where to begin and how to amplify your efforts to make lasting change in the world – read Audubon’s guide to climate action here
Task The grassland at Victoria Tower is managed with an annual late-season cut, with patches of uncut vegetation left for overwintering invertebrates in different parts of the site from year to year. This task will primarily involve raking up and clearing cuttings, although we may also undertake a small amount of sensitive scrub management and self-seeded sycamore control if time allows. We will work with the National Trust for Jersey.
If you have any questions, or if you wish to be added to the Jersey Conservation Volunteers email list, please contact either Julia Clively (tel: 441600; j.clively@gov.je) or Jon Parkes (tel: 483193; jon.parkes@nationaltrust.je).
The site Victoria Tower, St Martin. We will meet in the car park at the end of Le Mont Mallet (Jersey phone directory map Map 11, MM15) Google maps here
Parking Parking at the site is very limited but further on road parking is available along La Rue de La Pouclee et des Quatre Chemins. Please also consider car sharing or cycling.
Please meet at 10:20 for a 10:30 start and we will be finished by 13.00.
Tools needed As always, tools will be provided but if you have a pair of gardening gloves, a rake, fork or cutting tools (e.g. pruning saw, loppers, secateurs) it would be helpful if you could bring them along with you.
Clothing needed Please check the weather forecast and wear suitable clothing.
Children All are welcome, young or old although we do ask that volunteers under 16 years of age are accompanied by an adult.
Refreshments We will be treated to Kim’s latest batch of delicious cakes, washed down with a nice cup of tea or coffee.
The UK’s wildlife continues to decline according to the State of Nature 2019 report. The latest findings show that since rigorous scientific monitoring began in the 1970s there has been a 13% decline in average abundance across wildlife studied and that the declines continue unabated.
Following the State of Nature reports in 2013 and 2016, leading professionals from more than 70 wildlife organisations have joined with government agencies for the first time, to present the clearest picture to date of the status of our species across land and sea.
The State of Nature 2019 report also reveals that 41% of UK species studied have declined, 26% have increased and 33% shown little change since 1970, while 133 species assessed have already been lost from our shores since 1500.
Butterflies and moths have been particularly hard hit with numbers of butterflies down by 17% and moths down by 25%. The numbers of species, such as the high brown fritillary and grayling, that require more specialised habitats have declined by more than three quarters.
The UK’s mammals also fare badly with greater than 26% of species at risk of disappearing altogether. The wild cat and greater mouse-eared bat are among those species teetering on the edge of disappearing.
Much is known about the causes of decline and about some of the ways in which we could reduce impacts and help struggling species. The evidence from the last 50 years shows that significant and ongoing changes in the way we manage our land for agriculture, and the ongoing effects of climate change are having the biggest impacts on nature.
Pollution is also a major issue. Whilst emissions of many pollutants have been reduced dramatically in recent decades, pollution continues to have a severe impact on the UK’s sensitive habitats and freshwaters, and new pollutant threats are continuing to emerge.
Daniel Hayhow, lead author on the report, said: “We know more about the UK’s wildlife than any other country on the planet, and what it is telling us should make us sit up and listen. We need to respond more urgently across the board if we are to put nature back where it belongs. Governments, conservation groups and individuals must continue to work together to help restore our land and sea for wildlife and people in a way that is both ambitious and inspiring for future generations”
“In this report we have drawn on the best available data on the UK’s biodiversity, produced by partnerships between conservation NGOs, research institutes, UK and national governments, and thousands of dedicated volunteers. It’s through working together that we can help nature recover but the battle must intensify.”
Whilst the data that the report shows are alarming there is also cause for some cautious hope. The report showcases a wide range of exciting conservation initiatives, with partnerships delivering inspiring results for some of the UK’s nature. Species such as bitterns and large blue butterfly have been saved through the concerted efforts of organisations and individuals.
Reflecting growing concern about the environmental and climate emergencies, public support for conservation also continues to grow, with NGO expenditure up by 26% since 2010/11 and time donated by volunteers having increased by 40% since 2000. However, public sector expenditure on biodiversity in the UK, as a proportion of GDP, has fallen by 42% since a peak in 2008/09.
The report has a foreword by a collective of young conservationists who are passionate about conservation and the future of our wildlife and nature to preserve it for future generations.
Dan Rouse, a young conservationist said, “Nature is something that shaped my childhood, that allowed me to be free to use my sense of wonder, and to gain an insight into the wonderful world of nature! It’s young people that are now picking up the baton to save our nature – we’ve already lost Corn Buntings and Nightingales in Wales – how long until they’re gone from the rest of the UK? Along with the eerie calls of curlew and the gentle purr of the turtle doves.”
Sophie Pavelle, a young conservationist said “What a huge wake-up call 2019 has been! I have felt the loss of nature more acutely this year than any other. A dawn chorus less deafening, hedgerows less frantic, bizarre, worrying weather…it seems that in a more complex world nature is tired, muted and confused. People protect what they love, and if we can find quirky, empowering ways to encourage young people to connect with nature emotionally and see it as something they can truly champion – only then can we dig deep to find real hope for a brighter, sustained future for our natural world.”
Locally, partners in the report include Channel Islands representatives (see the list below) and Guernsey’s Andy McCutcheon, Principal Environment Services Officer, Agriculture, Countryside & Land Management Services (ACLMS) “Guernsey welcomes the opportunity to be part of the State of Nature report. The report paints a picture which should concern everyone. We have had a Biodiversity Strategy in place for nearly four years and this report forces us to face facts. It is only by understanding what we are losing and how we are losing it that we can begin to reverse the serious decline in our species rich habitats such as unimproved grassland.”
Download a full copy of the State of Nature 2019 report here and to find out how you can do your bit to save UK wildlife. Reports and summaries for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are also available here
The State of Nature 2019 UK partnership includes: A Focus On Nature, A Rocha, Action for Conservation, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation (ARC), Association of Local Environmental Records Centres (ALERC), Badenoch & Strathspey Conservation Group, Bat Conservation Ireland, Bat Conservation Trust (BCT), Biodiversity Ireland, Biological Records Centre (BRC), Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, British Arachnological Society (BAS), British Bryological Society (BBS), British Dragonfly Society (BDS), British Lichen Society, British Mycological Society (BMS), British Pteridological Society (BPS), British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Buglife, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM), Chester Zoo, Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Continuous Plankton Recorder, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust (Durrell), Earthwatch, Freshwater Habitats Trust, Friends of the Earth, Froglife, Isle of Man Government, iSpot (The Open University), Jersey Government Department of the Environment, John Muir Trust, Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), Local Environmental Records Centre Wales, Mammal Society, Manx BirdLife, Marine Biological Association (MBA), Marine Conservation Society, Marine Ecosystems Research Programme, MARINELife, National Biodiversity Network (NBN), National Forum for Biological Recording, CEDAR Centre for Environmental Data and Recording, National Trust, National Trust for Scotland, Natural England (NE), Natural History Museum, Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Northern Ireland Bat Group, Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), ORCA, People’s Trust for Endangered Species (PTES), Plantlife, Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh, Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, Scottish Badgers, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), Scottish Environment Link, Scottish Wild Land Group, Shark Trust, States of Guernsey, The Fungus Conservation Trust, Trees for Life, Ulster Wildlife Trust, University of Plymouth, University of Sheffield, Vincent Wildlife Trust, Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC), Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT), Wildlife Trusts, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Woodland Trust, WWF, Zoological Society of London (ZSL).
The biodiversity crisis has come to our backyards. In less than a single human lifetime, 2.9 billion breeding adult birds have been lost from the United States and Canada, including birds in every ecosystem. Numbers have plummeted even among familiar species: the dark-eyed junco has lost an incredible 175 million individuals from its population. The white-throated sparrow has lost 93 million. To put it another way, we’ve lost more than one in every four birds since 1970.
These findings were reported in the world’s leading scientific journal, Science, by researchers at seven institutions, including American Bird Conservancy. Watch the short video highlighting the main findings and the threats behind the numbers above.
One of the striking images from American Bird Conservancy https://abcbirds.org/3-billion-birds/#homepage. Western meadowlark. Photo by David Zeig/Audubon Photography Awards
There’s no time to lose
Birds are signalling a broader crisis in the natural world — one that is echoed by global losses in insects, amphibians, and other wildlife. The disappearance of even common bird species indicates a shift in our ecosystems’ ability to support basic birdlife.
Of the nearly three billion birds lost, 90% came from just 12 bird families, including (New World) sparrows, (New World) warblers, finches, and swallows. These common, widespread species play influential roles in ecosystems. If they’re in trouble, the wider web of life, including us, is in trouble, too.
Behind the numbers
This is the first study to undertake an accounting of the net population changes across a total of 529 breeding bird species in the United States and Canada. The researchers analysed birds on a group-by-group basis, allowing them to identify declines among species that use similar habitats. The findings included 48 years of data from multiple independent sources, including the North American Breeding Bird Survey and the Christmas Bird Count. A comprehensive analysis of 11 years of data from 143 NEXRAD radar stations showed a similarly steep decline in the magnitude of migration.
Where the losses are
A number as big as 2.9 billion is hard to fathom. Look at it like a balance sheet. Each year, many birds produce young while many others die. But since 1970, on balance, many more birds have died than have survived, resulting in 2.9 billion fewer breeding birds today.
Some ecosystems show worse losses than others. For example, forests alone have lost one billion birds since 1970. Grassland birds are also hard hit, with a 53% reduction in population — more than 720 million birds. Aerial insectivores — birds like swallows, nighthawks and flycatchers — are down by 32%, or 160 million. Coastal shorebirds, already at dangerously low numbers, lost more than one-third of their population.
The volume of spring migration, measured by radar in the night skies, has dropped by 14% in just the past decade.
Drivers of decline
Although the study did not investigate causes, scientists have identified that habitat loss is the biggest overall driver of bird declines. Habitat loss occurs when land is converted for agriculture, development, resource extraction, and other uses. Habitat degradation is a second cause of losses. In this case, habitat doesn’t disappear outright but becomes less able to support birds, such as when habitat is fragmented, altered by invasive plants, or when water quality is compromised.
Aside from habitat loss and degradation, other major human-caused threats to birds come from cats and other invasive species; collisions with glass and industrial infrastructure such as communications towers and wind turbines; and exposure to pesticides and other toxics.
Climate change is expected to exacerbate these threats, as well as creating new challenges; for example, changing habitat distributions and shifting the timing of peak food supplies for birds.
Fortunately, individuals can take action to reduce many of these threats. Learn more about ways you can help birds through everyday actions.
Help combat the crisis
ABC’s “50-50-5” plan in North America is designed to address the current bird crisis there. It will make a transformational difference for birds, and at the same time, protect millions of additional species of plants and animals, and make a huge contribution to solving our planet’s biodiversity and climate crises.
The plan is to save 50 flagship bird species, protect and conserve 50 million acres, and fight five critical threats. Can we do the same in Europe?
Download a manuscript of the full study Decline of the North American Avifauna here.
Belle-Île, nine miles (15km) off the coast of the Gulf of Morbihan, is Brittany’s largest island and a popular place for visitors. Birds On The Edge correspondent Regis Perdriat took his family over to this beautiful island (pun fully intended) in May but wasn’t content with just relaxing on the island’s many beaches. Belle-Île has red-billed choughs.
At 32 miles² (84 kilometres²), Belle-Île is smaller than Jersey (45.6 miles²) and, with a truly rugged coastline, it has far fewer residents, only 4,920 in the 2009 census. This human population may increase to a whopping 35,000 in summer – Jersey has nearly 107,000 residents. Anyway, plenty of nice chough-friendly coastline and although an important site for Brittany’s choughs there may sadly not be many these days. Maybe there are only around 20 birds; however, as Regis was able to confirm, they are breeding.
August has been a relatively quiet month. The youngsters are showing increasing signs of independence and the flock is spending more time exploring the island.
The parents have stopped feeding their young as the three-month-old chicks are independent…well almost. Photo by Liz Corry.
The results are in
Results came back from the UK lab regarding the DNA sexing samples. From the twelve we sent off, three are male and five are female. And one was Chewbacca (see below). We need to re-sample three birds due to a mix up in the lab and we still have the Plémont chick to catch.
DNA sexing results have shown ‘PB-CS‘ is one of at least five females hatched this year. Photo by Liz Corry.
There is growing concern for four birds as they have not been seen in a long time. We receive reports from Plémont of 2, 3, 5 birds, but it doesn’t necessarily mean Earl, Xaviour, or their chick are present in that group.
Chough travels around the north coast
On the occasions when I have been able to go on a ‘chough hunt’ around Jersey, I fail to see the missing chicks. In fact, quite often I fail to see any choughs!
I did watch Earl and Xaviour at Plémont one evening. Lovely to see them foraging around the cliffs; Earl looked to have been bathing in the intertidal zone. No sign of a third chough on that occasion.
Chough or rabbit hole? A favourite pastime of chough watchers at Plémont. Photo by Liz Corry.
Over at Les Landes, the only choughs I have seen there this month were Beanie Baby and Beaker. A surprise pairing and a delight to see. They kept me on my toes, literally, as I only heard them after completing a lap of the racecourse. They were over by the MP3 tower foraging on the cliffs above a group of rock climbers. As I reached the cliffs they decided to fly over to….the racecourse, so back I went. They waited for me to arrive, perched on the railings so I could see their leg rings, then flew mockingly over to Le Pinacle.
Two choughs picking out insects from the soil on the far end of Les Landes Racecourse. Photo by Liz Corry
Anyone who knows the area is fully aware of how the footpaths are interwoven into the heather and gorse landscape. The only straight lines belong to the model aircraft runway to the south. Cue WW2 fighter planes ducking and diving overhead as I navigate over to Le Pinacle, a Neolithic site with the ruins of an old temple (200 AD), to find two choughs perched on top of the granite stack.
You must navigate the heather and gorse to reach the MP3 tower in the distance. Photo by Liz Corry.
For the visitor, it is breathtaking scenery. For the chough monitor, it is breath-holding for this area is synonymous with peregrines. The choughs were risking life and limb. I didn’t have to hold my breath for long as they moved on again. This time I lost them as they followed the cliff face obscured from my view.
Le Pinacle is a granite stack where Neolithic treasures have been unearthed as well as the visible ruins of a temple dating back to 200 AD. Photo by Liz Corry.
Of course, just because I have not seen them doesn’t mean the choughs are not around. A tourist spotted two choughs at Les Landes and emailed the few photos she managed to snap before they flew away (bird not tourist). Squinting at the leg rings I think she saw Beaker and guessing the second was Beanie Baby!
A visitor to Jersey managed to spot Beaker whilst out on a walk at Les Landes. Photo by Susan Mueller.
We have also had three confirmed sightings from Le Pulec this month. None when I visited of course. The same for Grosnez and at Grantez.
Beanie Baby and Beaker visiting Le Pinacle. Photo by Liz Corry.
Supplemental feeds
All of the sightings away from Sorel are of pairs or small groups in the single figures. We are only seeing numbers in the 20s or 30s at the supplemental feeds compared to the 30s or 40s last month. This is because the pairs no longer need to find food for their chicks as well as themselves. The independence is allowing them to spend more time away from Sorel which makes it harder for us to monitor.
It is now hard to spot the juveniles in the flock unless you can read their leg rings. Photo by Liz Corry.
Of course they could just be sulking over the fact we have not been able to provide as many live mealworms this month. The UK supplier has had a few problems and a change in delivery policy to the Island has resulted in delays. Delays for live food tend to result in death; the correct temperatures are not maintained and the insects don’t get fresh air. We have had to send most of our monthly order straight to the compost bin.
Miss-taken identity
I will end August’s report as it started with the sexing results. The chicks were not the only ones to be tested. We sent a sample from Chewbacca, a two-year-old, parent-reared bird.
The lab came back with female whereas the first test back in 2017 said male. Judging by size and behaviour this Chewbacca is definitely a girl.
Hope you have all had a great summer and are now ready to get stuck in to a bit of practical conservation management?
Fresh on the heels of winning the 2019 Mike Stentiford Environmental Award at Natural Jersey 2019, the Jersey Conservation Volunteers tasks start with some seed sowing .
Task We will be preparing a seed bed and sowing a mixture of autumn barley, phacelia and mustard to provide food for pollinators and birds.
If you have any questions, or if you wish to be added to the Jersey Conservation Volunteers email list, please contact either Julia Clively (tel: 441665; j.clively@gov.je) or Jon Parkes (tel: 483193; jon.parkes@nationaltrust.je).
The site La Lande du Ouest (Gorselands) SSI. (Jersey phone directory Map 12, E20) Google maps here
Parking There is some parking at the meeting point in the small car park with the interpretation board in it, off Rue de la Corbiere. Otherwise, there are alternatives including near the desalination plant and the Radio Tower at Corbiere, or better still, why not car share?
We will set off from the car park at 10.30 promptly so please arrive a little earlier. We will be finished by 13.00.
Tools needed As always, we can supply some tools, but please bring your own if you have them. A garden rake is the tool of choice for this work.
Clothing needed Good thick gloves (though we can supply a pair if you don’t have them), wellies or sturdy boots, (we will be working on rotavated soil so it could be muddy underfoot) and common sense clothes to cope with the element, we go ahead whatever the weather!
Children All are welcome, young or old although we do ask that volunteers under 16 years of age are accompanied by an adult.
Refreshments We are proud and delighted to welcome back our very own award winning Kim the Kake to provide us with hot drinks and her delicious homemade cakes after work has finished.
Theme: Biodiversity Losses and Gains: Are We on Target? 
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Sunday 13th October 2019 – Victoria Tower, St Martin – 10:30-13.00
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I will end August’s report as it started with the sexing results. The chicks were not the only ones to be tested. We sent a sample from Chewbacca, a two-year-old, parent-reared bird.
Sunday 8th September 2019 – La Lande du Ouest (Gorselands) SSI. St Brelade – 10:30-13.00
Sincere apologies from all at Birds On The Edge but after several weeks of inactivity, we are back. Many thanks to Reka for sorting it all out.
