Latest results from the Rare Breeding Birds Panel - JNCC

The latest annual report by the Rare Breeding Birds Panel (RBBP) – Rare breeding birds in the UK in 2021 – has been published today (1 November 2023) and reveals mixed fortunes for the UK’s rare breeding birds.

The report brings together vital evidence for the rarest of our breeding birds, many of which are subject to national and international conservation action. Four species of birds of prey, including the Osprey, have reached record totals in the UK, as have several species of rare and colonising herons. However, two species of rare breeding bird failed to breed for the second year in succession.

The data gathered by the RBBP – which includes representatives from JNCC, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), as well as independent experts – is fundamental to our understanding of the status and trends of the rare and scarce species of UK breeding birds.

The annual report collates breeding evidence drawing together information from volunteers who report their bird sightings to recording networks. The 2021 report covers 111 species or races of rare breeding birds reported breeding, considerably more than any previous RBBP report.

Populations of four rare birds of prey – Osprey, Marsh Harrier, Goshawk and White-tailed Eagle – are now higher than ever reported before. A total of 281 pairs of Osprey were reported to the Panel, of which at least 232 laid eggs, and it is likely that a few more escaped detection in remote areas. When the RBBP start collating records in 1973 just ten breeding pairs were known, all in northern Scotland, but now thanks to conservation efforts the species breeds in all the mainland counties of Scotland, has expanded southwards into northern England, become established in Wales and – due to reintroduction projects – breeds in the East Midlands around Rutland Water and on the Dorset coast.