Overview

These are the main schemes for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s widespread breeding birds, providing an important indicator of the health of the countryside.

The results are published annually as Official Statistics and used widely by Defra and the Statutory Nature Conservation Bodies (SNCBs, e.g. Natural England and NatureScot) to set priorities and to inform conservation action, and as the evidence base against which the UK’s biodiversity targets are measured.

BBS data are also routinely used in research, with recent examples including peer-reviewed papers published in 2022 and 2024 which measured the efficacy of the UK’s network of protected areas in supporting wildlife.

The 2024 Breeding Bird Survey Report highlights the continuing decline of some farmland species and more recent declines of woodland birds, at least in England. In Scotland, there is a focus on upland birds, where an all-species indicator using BBS data shows a 20% decline since 1994. In Wales, there are mixed fortunes, with species like House Sparrow bucking the downward trend seen in England, whilst Curlew are in severe decline, as they are elsewhere in the UK. Some songbirds in Northern Ireland, such as Blackbird are doing comparatively well compared to the wider UK trend.

We thank nearly 3,000 skilled and dedicated volunteers who give their time to BBS and WBBS and make the monitoring of the UK’s breeding birds possible.

• Download the 2024 report
• Or, browse all editions of the Breeding Bird Survey Report >