Welcome to the Royal Society For The Protection of Birds (RSPB) trade stand.

The numbers and trends of birds in the UK are monitored in virtually unparalleled detail, and in some cases monitoring datasets stretch back over 40 years. 

Annual survey schemes provide accurate information on a wide variety of breeding and visiting species, while periodically repeated or one-off surveys give regular bulletins on rare and localised species, as well as those of specialised habitats. 

This report is a collaborative effort between three NGOs - the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) and the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) - and the UK Government's four statutory conservation agencies - the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), English Nature (EN), Environment & Heritage Service (Northern Ireland) (EHS) and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

It contains results from bird surveys as recent as 2004. In particular, we are proud that for the first time The state of the UK's birds contains trends from the previous year's Breeding Bird Survey (2004), rather than older data, thanks to more rapid collection, collation and analysis of the data from this survey. In other cases, reporting survey results takes longer, so some results are from 2003 or even 2002.

As in previous years, this report starts by updating recent trends in birds covered by UK Biodiversity Action Plans (UK BAPs). These are the species identified as being of the greatest concern in the UK, and are therefore subject to targeted conservation action from the Government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), such as those that endorse this report. Recent surveys have produced encouraging news on a number of our scarcest breeding bird species.

We then report on the trends of common breeding birds, provided by the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) since 1994 and the Common Bird Census (CBC) before that. The long-term trends, stretching back to 1970, not only allow us to track changes in the population status of individual species, but also to collate the UK wild bird indicator, which acts as a barometer of the fortunes of common breeding birds in the UK.

Every year a wide range of different surveys are conducted throughout the UK in addition to the main monitoring schemes, and we summarise the latest findings on these, from mute swans to hen harriers.

Following on from the focus on the Seabird 2000 survey in last year's report, this year we report on another aspect of seabird monitoring in the UK: breeding performance. Many of our seabirds had their poorest breeding season on record in 2004, which has heightened concerns over the condition of the seas surrounding the UK. We also report on the trends of wintering waterbirds provided by the Wetland Bird Survey and related schemes.

For the third year running, we present news from the UK's Overseas Territories, with up-to-date information on two of the most endangered species in the world for which the UK has sole responsibility. Slightly closer to home, we discuss the new Birds in Europe II analysis, which allows us to look at the importance of our bird populations in a European context.

Finally, we focus on what may be the greatest long-term threat to birds in the UK: climate change. We have known for some time that changes in the global climate are likely to affect the birds that breed and spend the winter in the UK, as well as those that pass through on migration. We present results from recent monitoring that demonstrate that the effects of climate change are already evident and discuss impacts likely in the future. 

Throughout this report, species names are colour-coded according to their conservation status, as assigned by The population status of birds in the UK: birds of conservation concern. The 40 species designated as being of the greatest conservation concern are red-listed, the 121 species of moderate concern are amber-listed and the 86 species of least concern are green-listed. 

For further information or to purchase any of these products please visit our Website at www.rspb.org.uk