20.03.2025 - Indoor Meeting : The Rare Breeding Birds Panel

Speaker: Dawn Balmer
Report: Sue Gale

​In March we were lucky to have Dawn Balmer, Chair of the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) to come and talk to us about the work that it does. She discussed the difficulty of producing an atlas and reports about rare breeding birds while protecting the birds from undue disturbance. She was at pains to assure us that any reports made to the panel would be entirely confidential and safe for the birds. Four different categories are used to classify the rarity of the birds included and Dawn gave us examples of each.

Category 1 are the Very Rare breeding birds (1-30 pairs). It’s worth noting the fact that we are talking about birds that breed in the UK, so the Redwing is included in this very rare category. Even though we see thousands of them each winter, there are only some 24 pairs breeding in the Highlands of Scotland. Another bird we see around the coasts in winter is the Slavonian Grebe, but again the beautiful breeding plumage is only seen in Scotland, where there are about 26 pairs. These are well studied (and quite easily seen if you go to RSPB Ruthven) but their numbers are in steep decline. This is known to be due to low productivity and poor winter survival.
Category 2 - Rare: Savvi’s Warbler does well in Norfolk, as do Spoonbills of which there were 49 pairs fledging
89 young at the last count. Osprey is doing so well that it will soon exceed the limit of 300 pairs for this category.
Category 3 - Scarce: (301-1000 pairs). For example, the numbers of Pochard nesting in this country are on the
rise. Little Ringed Plover are also in this category and are just beginning to arrive.
Category 4 - Less Scarce (1001 – 2000 pairs). Merlin is thought to be in this category, although it is especially difficult to count and not well reported. We should all be on the lookout for evidence that Shoveler are breeding and be sure to report it if we see it. This is another bird that may be increasing or may just be being reported more. We have all observed the big increase in the presence of Little Egrets, but again careful reporting of breeding attempts, usually in heronries, would be helpful. Other occasional breeders or non-native species to keep an eye on are Little Bittern, Black Swan and Monk Parakeet.
Dawn explained that the Panel gets the information from specialist groups, from licensed recorders/ringers, from amateurs through their county recorders and from published annual reports. In addition there are sometimes specialist surveys, like the one currently running on heathland birds. Knowledge of birds in winter is very poor, apart from the water birds covered by WEBS, which records throughout the year. The Breeding Bird Survey monitors 117 species but gets no information in the winter months. (Year-round monitoring as we do at Pensthorpe and Sweet Briar Marshes should therefore be valuable.)
The information collected is made available in several ways. It is made available to researchers and on requests for data to local authorities or the government, or it might be used to assess the effectiveness of conservation measures. A successful example is the provision of suitable habitat for the Bittern, which can be demonstrated by the increasing numbers of breeding birds. It contributes to the red/amber listing of species and to Bird Atlases, both UK and European. These atlases show that the best areas for rare breeding birds in the UK are the Highlands of Scotland and the county of Norfolk. So we are in the right place! Some of the species that are doing well here include Cranes, Marsh Harrier, Stone Curlew, Great White Egret and Turtle Dove. The information is not only success stories however. Long-eared Owls were not reported to be breeding at all in 2022. The Hawfinch, which is a hard bird to find, was only reported to have three successful breeding attempts.
And then there are the former breeders to be watched in the hope that they will re-establish, like Wryneck and Montague’s Harrier. Great Reed Warbler and Blyth’s Reed Warbler are both looking hopeful, with singing males seen every year. So it is important, Dawn was keen to emphasise, that we all keep watching birds and importantly reporting our findings. Many thanks to her for a stimulating talk.