Red and Amber Lists of Breeding Birds of Conservation Concern in Shropshire have been adopted by Shropshire Ornithological Society. The lists are based on local data and observations collected over the last 35 years, culminating in the publication of The Birds of Shropshire by Liverpool University Press in 2019.
The Policy Statement adopted by the Board, including a brief summary of the criteria used, can be found here.
A detailed explanation of the criteria, how they have been applied, and supporting references, published in the Shropshire Bird Report 2019 is available here.
The Lists highlight those native species that are under greatest threat in the County, and will steer the conservation efforts of SOS and others. There are 32 species on the Red List, and 17 on the Amber List – 49 in total.
The County Red and Amber Lists
| RED LIST |
RED LIST (continued) |
AMBER LIST |
||
| Chaffinch | Snipe | Black-headed Gull | ||
| Common Sandpiper | Spotted Flycatcher | Corn Bunting | ||
| Cuckoo | Starling | Dipper | ||
| Curlew | Swift | Garden Warbler | ||
| Grasshopper Warbler | Tawny Owl | Great Crested Grebe | ||
| Greenfinch | Teal | Green Woodpecker | ||
| Grey Partridge | Tree Pipit | Grey Wagtail | ||
| Kestrel | Tree Sparrow | Marsh Tit | ||
| Kingfisher | Turtle Dove | Meadow Pipit | ||
| Lapwing | Wheatear | Mistle Thrush | ||
| Lesser Black-backed Gull | Whinchat | Moorhen | ||
| Lesser Spotted Woodpecker | Willow Tit | Sand Martin | ||
| Long-eared Owl | Willow Warbler | Shoveler | ||
| Merlin | Wood Warbler | Sparrowhawk | ||
| Nightjar | Woodcock | Treecreeper | ||
| Pied Flycatcher | Yellow Wagtail | |||
| Pochard | Yellowhammer |
Species Recovery Action Plans
Action Plans are now being prepared, setting out what we can realistically do to help reverse the decline of each species. The ultimate goal of each Plan is maintaining and then restoring its population.
The Policy Statement Development of Species Recovery Action Plans can be found here.
We have identified 25 species for which an Action Plan can make an immediate impact, and we hope to start work on all of them in 2021. They are Black-headed Gull, Corn Bunting, Curlew, Dipper, Grasshopper Warbler, Great Crested Grebe, Kestrel, Lapwing, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Long-eared Owl, Marsh Tit, Merlin, Pied Flycatcher, Pochard, Shoveler, Snipe, Swift, Tawny Owl, Teal, Tree Pipit, Wheatear, Whinchat, Willow Tit, Wood Warbler and Yellow Wagtail.
Species Champions
We are appointing a Champion for each species to draft the species Action Plan, and lead and co-ordinate its implementation. The Role of the Champion is more fully described in the Policy Statement Development of Species Recovery Action Plans referred to above.
The species, in List and then alphabetical order, the first 25 followed by the remaining 24, together with the name of the Champion, contact details, and a link to the Action Plan as and when available, are listed below. Most of the Action Plans for the first 25 should be available in early 2021.
If you want to volunteer to be Champion for one or more species currently without, or want more information about the role, please contact the Working Party chair, Leo Smith.
Fieldwork and Surveying
We want to start this work in the next breeding season, so we also need a lot of help with survey work for all these species. If you want to help, please contact Jonathan Groom (bto.shropshire@gmail.com) with a note of the species and / or sites that you want to help survey. We’ll need time to develop the Action Plans, and collate the preferences for the fieldwork surveyors, so it will probably be February or March before anyone contacts you about the detail of what’s involved.
Every member can help
Casual records can add a lot to our knowledge, so we hope all members of SOS, and other birders, will seek out these species, and submit breeding season reports to the County Recorder, John Martin (soscountyrecorder@gmail.com). They should include counts and evidence of breeding behaviour. If you know of breeding sites for these species, in 2020 or in previous years, please let us know.
Co-ordination of the Project
The work will be the responsibility of the SOS Conservation Sub-committee, and will be carried out by a dedicated “Species Recovery Working Party”. Members of the Working Party will be Leo Smith (Co-ordinator), Graham Walker (Chair of Conservation Subcommittee), those members of Conservation Subcommittee who wish to join (Jonathan Groom and Gerry Thomas have opted in), and up to four Species Champions (including Bob Harris and Martin George, so far). All Species Champions will be able to contribute to the Action Plans, and the whole project.
Please help with this important project
Leo Smith
SOS Species Recovery Working Party
leo@leosmith.org.uk
Species Champions & Action Plans
The following table is a work in progress. As Species Champions are appointed for each bird on the Shrophire Red and Amber Lists, their names will be added to Column 3 in the table below. Column 4 provides an email address for that person to be used in connection with the Red/Amber List Species Recovery project. These are set up as links so selecting an address will open your mailer with the address in the ‘To:’ header. Finally, the right-hand column shows whether an Action Plan has yet been developed for that species. If so, a document icon appear in this column. This too is a link and can be selected to take you to the Action Plan.
SPECIES |
STATUS |
SOS SPECIES CHAMPION |
EMAIL ADDRESS OF SPECIES CHAMPION |
LINK TO ACTION PLAN |
| Curlew |
Red List |
Leo Smith | Curlew@shropshirebirds.co.uk |  |
| Grasshopper Warbler |
Red List |
Jonathan Groom | GrasshopperWarbler@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Kestrel |
Red List |
Raptor Group | Kestrel@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Lapwing |
Red List |
Leo Smith | Lapwing@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Lesser Black-backed Gull |
Red List |
LB-bG@shropshirebirds.co.uk | ||
| Long-eared Owl |
Red List |
Gerry Thomas | Long-earedOwl@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Merlin |
Red List |
Raptor Group | Merlin@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Pied Flycatcher |
Red List |
Bob Harris | PiedFlycatcher@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Pochard |
Red List |
Pochard@shropshirebirds.co.uk | ||
| Snipe |
Red List |
Leo Smith | Snipe@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Swift |
Red List |
Peta Sams | Swift@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Tawny Owl |
Red List |
Gerry Thomas | TawnyOwl@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Teal |
Red List |
Teal@shropshirebirds.co.uk | ||
| Tree Pipit |
Red List |
Leo Smith | TreePipit@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Wheatear |
Red List |
Leo Smith | Wheatear@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Whinchat |
Red List |
Leo Smith | Whinchat@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Willow Tit |
Red List |
Jonathan Groom | WillowTit@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Wood Warbler |
Red List |
Gerry Thomas | WoodWarbler@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Black-headed Gull |
Amber List |
Gerry Thomas | Black-headedGull@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Corn Bunting |
Amber List |
Martin George | CornBunting@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Dipper |
Amber List |
Leo Smith | Dipper@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Great Crested Grebe |
Amber List |
GreatCrestedGrebe@shropshirebirds.co.uk | ||
| Marsh Tit |
Amber List |
Jonathan Groom | MarshTit@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Shoveler |
Amber List |
Shoveler@shropshirebirds.co.uk | ||
| Yellow Wagtail |
Amber List |
Martin George |
YellowWagtail@shropshirebirds.co.uk | |
| Chaffinch |
Red List |
|||
| Common Sandpiper |
Red List |
|||
| Cuckoo |
Red List |
|||
| Greenfinch |
Red List |
|||
| Grey Partridge |
Red List |
|||
| Kingfisher |
Red List |
|||
| Lesser Spotted Woodpecker |
Red List |
|||
| Nightjar |
Red List |
|||
| Spotted Flycatcher |
Red List |
|||
| Starling |
Red List |
|||
| Tree Sparrow |
Red List |
|||
| Turtle Dove |
Red List |
|||
| Willow Warbler |
Red List |
|||
| Woodcock |
Red List |
|||
| Garden Warbler |
Amber List |
|||
| Green Woodpecker |
Amber List |
|||
| Grey Wagtail |
Amber List |
|||
| Meadow Pipit |
Amber List |
|||
| Mistle Thrush |
Amber List |
|||
| Moorhen |
Amber List |
|||
| Sand Martin |
Amber List |
|||
| Sparrowhawk |
Amber List |
|||
| Treecreeper |
Amber List |
|||
| Yellowhammer |
Amber List |
