Results are now available from the Birds On The Edge Island-wide Farmland Bird Monitoring scheme, managed by the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust through collaboration between Durrell, the Société Jersiaise, the National Trust for Jersey and the States of Jersey Department of the Environment and carried out at five sites between 2005 and 2015 that show that Jersey’s farmland bird populations are poorer than previously thought.

Five sites (at Crabbé, Les Landes, Les Blanche Banques sand dunes, Noirmont and Les Creux) were chosen in part through their connection with the five landbirds detailed in Jersey’s biodiversity action plans published in 2006: skylark, Dartford warbler, stonechat, yellowhammer and cirl bunting. Each of the transects have been walked at two-week intervals throughout the year and types and numbers of birds at different distance bands have been recorded. The dedicated team of volunteers walked more than 1,920 miles over 10 years in order to see what is happening to our birds.

Bird monitoring provides one of the most robust and globally recognised methods for measuring changes in the state of biodiversity and the broader environment. Currently the UK Farmland Bird Indicator is one of the UK Government’s 15 sustainable development indicators.

Over the ten-year period the information collated can be used to identify trends in populations and evidence suggests that we are dealing with very much a ‘mixed bag’.

A total of 124 bird species were recorded at the five sites during the survey, April 2005 to April 2015. Some of these species were recorded very infrequently or even only once and of all those recorded, 72 species were seen in sufficient numbers to analyse trends.

Linnet: FBS counts 2005-2015

Total numbers of birds recorded on Jersey’s north coast 1985-2014

Sixteen of them showed marked decreases across the five sites while a further nine have increased. The remaining species’ populations appear stable with three showing signs of a possible long-term increase and five showing signs of a possible long-term decrease. Results coincide with a 30-year survey of birds along Jersey’s north coast published by the Société Jersiaise which shows that overall bird numbers recorded here halved between 1985 and 2014².

Dr Glyn Young of Durrell, who managed the project, said “the results of these two studies show the importance of long-term monitoring projects like this one and is grateful to everyone who gave so much of their free time to help understand what is happening to our Island’s bird populations”.

Mick Dryden, Chairman of the Société Jersiaise Bird Section said “The Section has collected bird records for more than 50 years from right across Jersey. This study has clearly shown the value of intensive, systematic study from a group of keen volunteers”.

Turtle dove: FBS counts 2005-2015

In Jersey there are many species of conservation concern, but, as this study shows, it is birds associated with farmland such as the lapwing, turtle dove, skylark, yellowhammer, stonechat, linnet and reed bunting, that are faring the worst in terms of declining rates. This follows a present trend across the UK and Europe. It has been determined that the main causes of these declines are an unusually high mortality during winter, a direct consequence of the modernization of farming techniques, abandonment of marginal land and a changing climate. In traditional agriculture, there would be sources of winter food in the form of spilt cereals, fields left in stubble and fallow grounds. In Jersey it is not known what changes in farming are having an impact on local birds, but it is believed that a combination of intensification, modern technologies and abandonment of marginal land which then reverts to bracken have contributed to the changes in the food availability and subsequent bird declines.

Skylark: FBS counts 2005-2015

Birds are great indicators for overall environmental health and birds in Jersey are in decline, the island’s broader environment is a lot poorer than people assume. Jersey needs a healthy and diverse environment to prosper, so help the birds and help Jersey.

What is being done to benefit these target species which have been identified to be declining in numbers? The Birds On The Edge partnership is a joint initiative between The National Trust for Jersey, Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the States of Jersey Department of the Environment, which aims to restore habitats and stop the decline of these bird species.

As an integral part of the Birds On The Edge project and in collaboration with local farmers, a total of 49 fields (with a combined area of 30.35ha or 168.6vg) were planted with winter bird crops in 2015 at 12 different sites. Three varieties of winter bird crops were planted and some barley and mustard. This initiative aims to help our birds get through the winter when food would otherwise be very scarce and be in good condition to breed in spring.

Each of the sites surveyed and the core populations of the declining birds lie within the Jersey Coastal National Park, further emphasising the importance of this initiative to Island biodiversity.

Jonny Parkes, Lands Manager of The National Trust for Jersey says “This survey clearly demonstrates that we all need to “up our game” if we are going to prevent the further loss of some of our key farmland and coastal birds. The loss of the skylark from the dunes at St Ouen would be tragic loss and we need to acknowledge that securing the future of such species will require on occasion robust measures including restricted public access, pest control and increased government investment in agri-environment schemes. The Birds On The Edge Project demonstrates what can be achieved through collaboration and we hope we can further build upon its early success to prevent further population declines”

¹ Download the full survey report here

² Read details of the north coast bird survey here

By Kaja Heising

The Atlantic puffin is an iconic bird in the Channel Islands. One of the southernmost populations, those breeding on Jersey and the other Channel Islands belong to the English-Channel or French-Atlantic sub-population.

Puffins spend the winter at sea and come ashore to breed in colonies. Usually they arrive in the Channel Islands around April and leave again in July. They have a slow reproductive cycle, not breeding until six years of age, and then only laying one egg per year. Typically, for breeding, puffins return to the sites where they hatched by themselves and Jersey, therefore, plays an important role for the annual life-cycle of this sub-population.

Although there are still good numbers of puffins globally it is listed as Vulnerable with a decreasing population-trend in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. No sub-populations are listed separately and it is highly possible that the French-Atlantic sub-population is even more endangered. Annually, about 580,799 pairs breed in the UK, Isle of Man and Channel Islands. Nevertheless, the numbers of the French-Atlantic sub-population are relatively low and have shown a continuous decrease during the 20^th Century. Conservation Status of Jersey’s Birds lists the puffin as RED with a severe breeding population decline.

Population-development of Atlantic puffin on Jersey between 1998 and 2015.

The reasons for the puffin’s decline on Jersey are not completely understood and may vary with location. Several causes may play a role: puffins usually nest on offshore-islands free of mammalian predators. Most of the introduced mammalian predators, like the brown rat, black or ship rat, domestic cat or American mink, are good climbers and can also reach the puffins’ nest-holes on steep cliffs. The puffin is, therefore, especially vulnerable to these invasive species. Also native seabirds like herring gull, lesser black-backed gull and great black-backed gull might be a cause of puffin declines through kleptoparasitism or direct predation.

Human disturbance through tourism and general boat-traffic at the breeding sites might play a role in decreases. However, there is contradictory evidence: after a tourist-hotspot around the puffins’ nesting sites at Jersey (Plémont Holiday Village) was closed in 2000, a recovery of the population was not seen. This might be an indication that human-presence had little or even no effect on the Jersey-population.

Indirect impacts like climate change cause loss of the puffin’s food supply in many colonies. In the English Channel, rising temperatures and other indirect factors like pollution of the sea may play an important role as well. Moreover, one particular fish species, snake pipefish, has increased in number in the region around Jersey and may have been fed to nestlings, as has been recorded in UK, Norway or Iceland for instance (abstract here), although it is inedible for young puffins. Herring, capelin or sandeel should actually form their main diet.

There may have been a population of 200-300 pairs on Jersey during 1911-1914, decreasing rapidly from 1915 to only 22 pairs in 1998 and as few as two individuals at the time of writing.

My study focussed on recent temporal changes to try to identify of the current status of the Atlantic puffin population on Jersey. Assuming that climate change may play an important role for the puffin’s decline, temperature was correlated to the population size.

The methodology used to estimate the number of puffins between 1911- 1915 is undocumented and unlikely to be based on scientific evidence. However, the records of the high numbers in 1911-1914 and the drastic decline in 1915 were both collected by the same person (Roderick Dobson). Therefore, although the accuracy of the exact numbers is questionable, it can be assumed that there were high numbers of puffins present at Jersey, which then had a drastic decline. The reason for such a dramatic decline within only four years remains unknown. It is clear though that Jersey has never seen numbers of puffins like that again.

Due to a higher human population-density on Jersey, the puffin’s distribution might be restricted by invasive predators and by human presence. Brown rat began occurring on this island in the 18^th Century, the black rat was introduced in Roman times. Avoiding pressure from rats, the puffins on Jersey may have become restricted to breed on sites which invasive mammalian predators find harder to access. These alternative breeding sites are small and poor-quality, areas like gaps along the cliffs instead of the commonly used burrows on cliff-tops.

Although the puffin is considered a flagship species of the Channel Islands, they have not been studied sufficiently and very little is known about their local ecology. The causes for the puffins’ decline on Jersey are still not fully identified. Although this analysis did not show any correlation to it, climate change as a factor should not be neglected as a potential main reason for the puffins’ decline in the English Channel. While the puffin might have resisted any single factor causing pressure on its population, the combination of all these factors together may be the causation for the eventual decline. Anthropologically disturbed areas, invasive mammalian predators, rising temperatures, decline in prey availability, and change in available fish species… summing up these factors – they were tough enough to effect the puffin’s population in the end.

With few actions taken, or possibly even feasible, to conserve the colony on Jersey, effort should be put into the puffins’ conservation throughout the Channel Islands, to prevent the same fate on the other islands as is happening on Jersey, where the puffin will, sadly, be extinct soon.

Acknowledgements

This assessment was written for the module “Invasive Species and other Drivers of Distribution Change” as part of the Master of Science class “Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation” at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge. I am grateful to Paul Aked, senior Meteorologist at the Meteorological Section of the Department of the Environment, Jersey for providing me with data on climate.

The puffin photos used here were taken in Iceland by Nicolas Guillod.

The full report Last chance to see? Analysis of temporal changes of the Atlantic puffin (Fratercula arctica) population at Jersey, Channel Islands can be read here

Kaja Heising, MSc Animal Behaviour: Applications for Conservation, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge