Scotland's terrestrial breeding bird numbers show effects of climate change - NatureScot
A new report from NatureScot has shown that the effects of hotter and wetter weather are creating significant changes to the numbers and species of birds thriving in urban, woodland, upland and farmland habitats. Climate change, which has seen wetter summers and warmer winters in Scotland, has caused increases to some bird populations and decreases for others.
Woodland birds have seen the largest increases, with farmland and urban birds showing slight increases, demonstrating that our warmer summers are attracting some terrestrial birds that would not normally venture north. Eighteen of the 23 species in the Scottish woodland indicator have increased since 1994. The biggest increases, of over 500%, are for chiffchaff, blackcap and great spotted woodpecker. Bullfinch, great tit, wren, tree pipit, willow warbler, and song thrush have also increased by more than 50%. The willow warbler is an example of Scotland starting to be seen as a climate refuge for certain species now that we are closer to its preferred temperatures.
The greatest long-term increases in farmland birds have been for goldfinch (+358%), whitethroat (+128%), great tit (+120%) and magpie (+104%), making these species more than twice as abundant on farmland as they were in 1994. There have been some substantial long-term decreases in other farmland bird populations, however, including declines of more than 50% for kestrel, greenfinch and lapwing, and 25-50% declines for oystercatcher, rook, pied wagtail and skylark.
On the other hand, Scotland’s upland birds are faring the worst, with a steady decrease since 1994 due in large part to increasing summer rainfall. Twelve of the 17 species in this category have seen their population drop. Black grouse, curlew and dotterel have declined by more than 50%, with several factors, including climate change, forest expansion, and changes in land management practices such as grazing and predator control - behind this shift.