The requirements of the UK statutory conservation agencies

Abstract

Since the implementation of the Environmental Protection Act 1990, the three Country Agencies (English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales) have had the responsibility for licensing the capture and disturbance of birds. These agencies, in partnership with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), oversee the activities of ringing under Section 16 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act (1981) by the BTO operating the British and Irish Ringing Scheme. The country agencies rely on the JNCC to co‐ordinate their work and to undertake so‐called ‘special functions’, such as research and advice on nature conservation at the United Kingdom level and internationally. The JNCC/BTO partnership incorporates the various monitoring and survey projects that provide the basis for a significant element of ornithological advice in the UK. In addition to the administrative operation of the ringing scheme, there are elements within the partnership that interpret the data gained from the recovery of ringed birds and biometrics recorded at the time of ringing, as well as developing more standardised programmes of ringing such as the Constant Effort Sites and Retrapping Adults for Survival schemes. Many of the data gained from ringing increase our general understanding of the demography, movements and survival of species and are reported through the wealth of ornithological literature. These ‘ultimate’ uses of data are vital to inform the advice given by JNCC and the country agencies to central government, international bodies and Conventions relevant to the conservation of bird species and their habitats. The ‘raw’ recovery and biometric data collected through the Ringing Scheme are not used extensively by the statutory bodies at present. These ‘proximal’ data have the potential to underpin the designation of protected sitesby providing abetter understanding of the local and seasonal movements of our bird fauna; however, further work needs to be undertaken to improve access to these data. Several key research projects commissioned by the Country Agencies and JNCC use colour‐ringing, wing‐tagging and other unconventional marks to track the movements of key species. There are many examples where such data and further targeted studies could be used more extensively to evaluate the detailed habitat use by key species within protected sites, and their dispersal and seasonal movements between breeding and wintering grounds. Such uses could contribute to the understanding of national and international site ‘networks’, appropriate species recovery programmes, wider countryside conservation measures and international co‐operative action for migratory and quarry species.