Endangered birds spotted on Scarcroft Site

6 types of threatened birds have been spotted on the Scarcroft Site this year.  The most threatened are the House Sparrow, Song Thrush and Starling.   The UK's birds can be split in to three categories of conservation importance - red, amber and green.  These 3 types of birds are all on the RSPBs red list. We also have Dunnocks, Bullfinches and Mislte Thrushes which on the amber list.

Red is the highest conservation priority, with species needing urgent action. Amber is the next most critical group, followed by green.

Red list criteria

• Globally threatened
• Historical population decline in UK during 1800–1995
• Severe (at least 50%) decline in UK breeding population over last 25 years, or longer-term period (the entire period used for assessments since the first BoCC review, starting in 1969).
• Severe (at least 50%) contraction of UK breeding range over last 25 years, or the longer-term period

Amber list criteria

• Species with unfavourable conservation status in Europe (SPEC = Species of European Conservation Concern)
• Historical population decline during 1800–1995, but recovering; population size has more than doubled over last 25 years
• Moderate (25-49%) decline in UK breeding population over last 25 years, or the longer-term period
• Moderate (25-49%) contraction of UK breeding range over last 25 years, or the longer-term period
• Moderate (25-49%) decline in UK non-breeding population over last 25 years, or the longer-term period
• Rare breeder; 1–300 breeding pairs in UK
• Rare non-breeders; less than 900 individuals
• Localised; at least 50% of UK breeding or non-breeding population in 10 or fewer sites, but not applied to rare breeders or non-breeders
• Internationally important; at least 20% of European breeding or non-breeding population in UK (NW European and East Atlantic Flyway populations used for non-breeding wildfowl and waders respectively)