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 23 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, Long-eared Owl, Marsh Tit, Merlin, Pied Flycatcher, Pochard, Shoveler, Snipe, Swift, 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 23 followed by the remaining 25, 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 23 should be available later in 2021.
We are still looking for Champions for Pochard, Shoveler, Teal and Great Crested Grebe, and would welcome volunteers. If you want to volunteer 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 2021 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.
Finalising the Action Plans is taking longer than we hoped, but it is still intended to start monitoring and survey work in Spring 2021. We would like help with the following, please:-
- Curlew, in the 10 Community Wildlife Group areas (see Save our Curlews, elsewhere on this website, and ShropsCWGs.org.uk)
- Wood Warbler – suitable woodland at Brown Clee, Bury Ditches, Candy Valley, Clunton Coppice, Dowles Brook area of the Wyre Forest, Mortimer Forest, The Ercall, The Wrekin and Whitcliffe
- Willow and Marsh Tit, mainly in March in woodland across the County, using a tape recording to attract a response,
- Grasshopper Warbler, at sites across the County in late April
- Swift, locating nest sites, mainly in urban areas. The hour before sunset during June and July is usually most productive. A volunteer to co-ordinate survey work in each town with old buildings would be extremely useful.
- Lapwing, Kestrel, Cuckoo, Tree Pipit, Meadow Pipit, Wheatear, Whinchat, and other listed species in some areas, also on Community Wildlife Group surveys
- Kestrel, Cuckoo, Tree Pipit, Wheatear, Whinchat, Grey Wagtail on Long Mynd Breeding Bird Surveys
- Corn Bunting and Yellow Wagtail, in north Shropshire.
- A survey of all listed species on each of the larger SWT reserves – if you live near one of these reserves, and visit it regularly, this might be ideal for you.
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
Postscript
The journal British Birds has acknowledged the importance of the county Red and Amber list project in its News and Comment feature in British Birds 114, February 2021, 67–71. To read this news article, link here for page 1 and page 2.
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 appears 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 | |
| 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 |
Andrew Cristinacce | 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 |
|||
| Tawny Owl |
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 |
