How birdwatchers help the Commission save the world

By Emily Smith

Date: 24/05/06

The European Commission has an army of birdwatchers to help it in its effort to save the world.

Thousands of amateur ornithologists are today watching the skies to check the number and type of birds passing EU fields and houses.

The data from their notebooks will eventually make its way to Prague, where statistics on sparrows in Sheffield and herons in Helsinki are pooled together in one central EU bird report.

Keeping an eye on bird populations is currently the only accepted way of monitoring biodiversity patterns, with data eagerly scrutinised by environmentalists, politicians and the Commission.

"Thousands and thousands of hours of skilled volunteer work goes into these reports," says Richard Gregory, head of monitoring and surveys at the UK Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB).

The end result, he says, is "unique, the only working operational biodiversity indicator in Europe".

The RSPB and its European partner BirdLife International have pioneered production of the wild bird biodiversity indicator reports, producing two since 2002. Recently acquired EU finding means Europe can now expect one such report per year, starting this autumn.

The last report, based on data fed to the RSPB and equivalent EU bird interest groups by national ornithology organisations, found that farmland and forest bird populations were falling, while the number of other common birds increased.

Gregory says there are a number of reasons to monitor the health of the environment by observing birds. For one, ornithology groups have a "fantastic tradition of working together", which has made it easier to co-ordinate data-collecting rules and standards across different regions and even countries.

Birds are also "relatively easy to identify, which gives them an advantage over other possibilities".

Perhaps more importantly, bird-watching is a favourite hobby for millions of people. "It has fantastic public appeal; people associate with it and want to count the birds."

The RSPB is the most popular charity in the UK, with more than a million members. Gregory says the bird appeal seems to travel well: "In Bulgaria for instance, where a new country network has recently been set up, it is inspirational to see quite often young people, from all walks of life, giving their time to this."

Governments have yet to see the value of the wild bird indicators. With the EU funding going to the central Prague office, Gregory says networks in countries such as Estonia and Latvia are struggling to survive.

"We need nations across the EU to provide more money for biodiversity monitoring on the ground. Bird data is a real gold mine. It is the only credible information across the EU telling us how the environment is doing."

• The possibility of setting up a butterfly indicator is now being discussed.

Article on the contribution of thousands of volunteers to the preparation of an EU report on development regarding wild birds.
Article is part of a European Voice Special Report, 'Biodiversity'.

• Primary Source