Awareness Indicators for forest-birds in DK, EE, FI, LT, LV & - PowerPoint Presentation

Awareness Indicatorsfor forest-birds inDK, EE, FI, LT, LV & SE - an introduction to a tool for assessment of awareness needed to protect species of conservation concern in the six countries By Veljo Volke, BirdLife-Estonia & Henrik Wejdling, DOF/ BirdLife -Denmark February 2018

BackgroundThese awareness indicators for forest birds are – by initiative from FSC-Sweden - developed by BirdLife-partners in six countries around the Baltic Sea with BirdLife-Estonia and DOF/BirdLife-Denmark as leads.They should help forestry, authorities and NGO’s in highlighting forest species which need additional actions   to keep them in (or get them to) favorable conservation status. AND hereby not at least help FSC-Standard-developers in pointing out the most important species to be addressed by soft and hard measures in the upcoming standards. WHICH specific measures are still to be developed.

The Birds Directive covers all wild living bird species of EU-27Article 5 is asking for protection of ‘all wild birds in Europe’In forestry, all birds therefore should be taken care of and those of conservation concern should be addressed in particular. All birds Forest birds Forest birds of conservation concern

When would a species be of conservation concern?The following indicators should be taken into consideration:Its red list status internationally (since birds don’t know borders!)Its Annex I-status at the Birds Directive (since species adopted here always should be taken care of according to legislation – especially if declining)Its relative abundance in each country (if higher abundance than average, then higher responsibility) Its red list status nationally The trends in population (on short and long term) Its rareness (size of actual population) Its generation length International National General

The Swedish way: Appendix 4The Swedish authorities have narrowed down the list of species of conservation concern to the so called priority speciesTakes into consideration the international responsibility (IUCN- redlist , Annex I) as well as the local (national red list and trends in population )

Two different Red List Systems in the six countriesDK, EE, FI & SE uses the IUCN-system Lithuanian red list categories: 0 (Ex) Extinct or possibly extinct species 1 ( E ) Endangered species or species on verge of extinction 2 ( V ) Vulnerable species whose population figures and abundance is rapidly decreasing 3 ( R ) Rare species with a small number of populations due to their biological characteristics 4 ( I ) Intermediate species which cannot be included in the other categories due to lack of data 5 ( Rs ) Restored species once included in the Red List whose abundance has since restored LV & LT have their own

The new SPEC-report from BLIIn May 2017 BirdLife International launched this new publication – highlightning ‘national responsibilities’

SPEC-definitions(covering the international criteria)SPEC 1European species of global conservation concern, i.e. classified as Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable or Near Threatened at global level SPEC 2 Species whose global population is concentrated in Europe , and which are classified as Regionally Extinct, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Declining, Depleted or Rare at European level SPEC 3 Species whose global population are not concentrated in Europe, but which are classified as Regionally Extinct, Critically Endangered, Endangered, Vulnerable, Near Threatened, Declining, Depleted or Rare at European levelDeclining: European population has declined by ≥20% since the 1970s Depleted: European population has declined by ≥20% since the 1970s , but has not declined further since 2001.Rare: European population is <10,000 breeding pairs (or <40,000 wintering individuals), and is not marginal to a larger non-European population.

Supplements to the Swedish Annex 4Since…. not all species of concern are represented in Sweden and therefore not represented in the Appendix 4 (for instance Lesser & Greater Spotted Eagle)some species do fulfil the Annex 4-criteria in other of the six countries examined, and since…we now have this new BLI-publication on Species of European Conservation Concern highlightning some new species …….. The Swedish list has been supplemented with another 23 species, making a total of 85 (but still to be discussed if they are all ‘forest-species’!)

Reason(s) for adoption English name Internationally Nationally Common Goldeneye None Red Listed in DK (VU) Short- t oed Eagle Annex I Red Listed in DK (RE), EE (CR), LV (1), LT ( 0 (Ex)) Eurasian Buzzard None Red Listed in FI (VU) Lesser Spotted Eagle Annex I Red Listed in EE (NT), LV (3), LT (3 ( R )) Greater Spotted Eagle IUCN-W (VU), Eur (EN), Annex I, SPEC 1 Red Listed in EE (CR), FI (CR), LV (3), LT (1 ( E )) Common Kestrel SPEC 3 Red Listed in LV (1) LT (1 ( E )) Eurasian Hobby None Red Listed in DK (EN), LT (3 ( R )) Green Sandpiper None Red Listed in DK (VU) European Turtle Dove IUCN-W (VU), Eur (VU), EU-27 (VU), SPEC 1 Red Listed in DK (NT), FI (CR) Ural Owl Annex I Red Listed in LV (3), LT (3 ( R )) Common Kingfisher EUR (VU), Annex I, SPEC 3 Red Listed in EE (NT), FI (CR), LV (3), LT (3 ( R )), SE (VU) European Roller Annex I, SPEC 2 Red Listed in DK (RE), EE (CR), LV (1), LT (1 ( E )), SE (RE) Tree Pipit SPEC 3 None Redwing IUCN-W (NT), Eur (NT) EU-27 (VU), SPEC 1 None Arctic Warbler None Red Listed in FI (VU) and SE (EN) Willow Warbler SPEC 3 None Spotted Flycatcher SPEC 2 None Crested Tit None Red Listed in FI (VU) Eurasian Nuthatch None Red Listed in FI (VU) Sibirian Jay None Red Listed in FI (NT) Brambling EU-27 (VU), SPEC 3 Red Listed in FI (VU) European Greenfinch None Red Listed in FI (VU) Eurasian Bullfinch None Red Listed in FI (VU)

Ending up in ‘The Long List’ Here you find all 85 species with: their status on as well the international red lists as the national lists, the average generation length, the actual size of population, the share of EU-27-population in each country the trends in population within short and long term, and their national rareness - all of which are indicators telling whether a given species in a given country should be of conservation concern.

Still more candidates to come…Analysing the total amount of forest species within the six countries around the Baltic Sea leaves a group of ‘coming ups’ or ‘candidates’ which does not (yet) fulfil the criteria set up for being priority species.These species are undergoing decline in one or more countries to such a degree that they are suspected to fulfil the criteria at the next revision of this tool. Unless of course they could find help in those measures hopefully developed as a follow up on this study to help species already fulfilling the criteria. The candidates are also listed in the tool in a special tab (named ‘Candidates’).

The difference between ‘Europe’ and ‘EU-27’ SPEC-report refers to ‘Europe ’

24 11 1 15 Annex I 38 Eur-Red 7 SPEC 33 IUCN-World 5 Listed in total: 57 2 3 1 Number of species within the six countries which are internationally listed

The EU-27 Red List add one more: Rough-Legged Buzzard, EN SPEC 1 SPEC 2 SPEC 3 Red List status for species which figures on more than one Red List is given in following order: IUCN-World, Eur -Red Internationally listed forest bird-species in DK, ES, FI, LV, LT, & SE RE Regionally Extinct CR Critically Endangered EN Endangered VU Vulnerable NT Near Threatened Black Stork Whooper Swan European Honey Buzzard White-tailed Sea Eagle Short-toed Eagle Lesser Spotted Eagle Golden Eagle Osprey Merlin Peregrine Falcon Northern Hazel-grouse Western Capercaillie Common Crane Hawk Owl Eurasian Pygmy Owl Ural Owl Tengmalm's Owl Grey Headed Woodpecker Black Woodpecker Middle Spotted Woodpecker White-backed Woodpecker Eurasian Three-toed Woodpecker Red-breasted Flycatcher Collared Flycatcher Common Kestrel Common Swift Northern Wryneck Tree Pipit Whinchat Willow Warbler Goldcrest Spotted Flycatcher Willow Tit Sibirian Tit Common Starling Brambling European Serin Common Rosefinch Yellowhammer Red-throated Diver Smew Black Kite Eurasian Black Grouse Eurasian Eagle Owl Great Grey Owl European Nightjar European Roller Wood Lark Red-backed Shrike Ortolan Bunting Willow Grouse VU Red Kite NT, NTGreater Spotted Eagle VU, EN European Turtle-dove VU, VURedwing NT, NTRustic Bunting VU, VU Common Kingfisher VU

International responsibilities – an overviewIUCN Red List (World) (5 species represented)BLI SPEC-species (33 species represented)European Red List (7 species represented) EU-27 Red List (12 species represented) Birds Directive, Annex I (38 species represented) A total og 57

Nationally red listed species – some statistics Country Number of breeding forest species of conservation concern Of these nationally red listed Pct. Denmark 52 23 44 Estonia 72 27 38 Finland 74 31 42 Latvia 73 31 42 Lithuania 71 32 45 Sweden 77 38 49

Birds Directive, Annex IBeing an Annex I-species in it self means that everyone should show more than basic awareness – also if the population is stable or even increasing.If an Annex-I-species is declining or depleted in a specific country, more awareness should be paid.

Relative abundanceFrom the statistics it is known how huge a share of the total EU-27-population is breeding in each of the countries.If that share is higher than the share of territory belonging to that same country, the relative abundance is higher than the average.The higher the more awareness should be paid.The indicator is simply quantified by dividing the share of territory (in %) into the share of population (in %). Values >1 indicates relatively higher abundance than average.

A short bonus informationBased on the analysis of the EU-data it could be seen that for some species nearly the total EU-population breeds in the six countries examined. For instance the six countries holds 90 % or more of the total EU-population of the following 14 forest species of conservation concern (share in ( )):Hawk Owl (100)Redwing (100) Red-flanked Bluetail (100) Arctic Warbler (100) Siberian Jay (100)Siberian Tit (100)Red Crossbill (99,9)Brambling (99,9)Great Grey Owl (99,8) Greenish Leaf Warbler (99,7)Eurasian Black Grouse (96,2)Green Sandpiper (94,5)Common Rosefinch (94,0) Northern Hazel-Grouse (90,1)

Population size and rareness(rareness indicator) Total area : 11,185,500 km2 BLI-definition of ‘rareness’: < 10,000 pairs ~0.9 pair/1000 km2 DK EE FI LV LT SE Rareness threshold 40 40 300 60 60 400 Rareness indicator: Threshold/Population > 1 = Rare

Population trendsIn working with the awareness indicators, a tool has been set up, which based on official EU-data gives: the actual size of populationthe percentage of population in all EU member states the trend (in short (~10 years) and long (~30 years) term)

‘K’ & ‘r’-strategists: ‘K’ ‘r’ Typically long generations Typically short generations A tendency to be more vulnerable A tendency to be less vulnerable Generation length – why important?

8 awareness criteria, 4 levelsA Short Term decline would only call for ‘High Awareness’ since you have no evidencewhether the decline is just temporary

Example: Nuthatch in SwedenIn Sweden the Nuthatch only needs ‘Basic Awareness’ since it seems to do quite well with forestry for now.

Example: Nuthatch in FinlandIn Finland the Nuthatch calls for more awareness since it is very rare and Red Listed as Vulnerable

Example: Greater Spotted Eagle in EstoniaIn Estonia the Greater Spotted Eagle needs very high awareness as well from an international point of view (SPEC 1 & Annex 1, declining) as a national point of view (Red Listed (CR), declining in as well long as short term, and extremely rare). Besides very long generation length.

Example Black Stork in LatviaIn Latvia the Black Stork needs high and very high awareness as well from an international as a national point of view. Even though it is now a Non-SPEC, it is Annex 1, declining and shows a very high relative abundance (more than twice the average). At national level it is Red Listed (3), declining in as well long as short term, and rather rare. Besides rather long generation length.

New ‘coming ups’ to be aware of Even though Finland still holds a population of 680,000 pairs of Willow Tit and thereby have a relative abundance more than three times higher than the EU-27 average, the Willow Tit is declining in long as well as short term and is to day Red-Listed (VU). Internationally it is SPEC 3.

Adopted Species Reason(s) for adoption English name Internationally Nationally Common Goldeneye None Red Listed in DK (VU) Short-Toed Eagle Annex I Red Listed in DK (RE), EE (CR), LV (1), LT ( 0 (Ex)) Eurasian Buzzard None Red Listed in FI (VU) Lesser Spotted Eagle Annex I Red Listed in EE (NT), LV (3), LT (3 ( R )) Greater Spotted Eagle IUCN-W (VU), Eur (EN), Annex I, SPEC 1 Red Listed in EE (CR), FI (CR), LV (3), LT (1 ( E )) Common Kestrel SPEC 3 Red Listed in LV (1) LT (1 ( E )) Eurasian Hobby None Red Listed in DK (EN), LT (3 ( R )) Green Sandpiper None Red Listed in DK (VU) European Turtle Dove IUCN-W (VU), Eur (VU), EU-27 (VU), SPEC 1 Red Listed in DK (NT), FI (CR) Ural Owl Annex I Red Listed in LV (3), LT (3 ( R )) Common Kingfisher EUR (VU), Annex I, SPEC 3 Red Listed in EE (NT), FI (CR), LV (3), LT (3 ( R )), SE (VU) European Roller Annex I, SPEC 2 Red Listed in DK (RE), EE (CR), LV (1), LT (1 ( E )), SE (RE) Tree Pipit SPEC 3 None Redwing IUCN-W (NT), Eur (NT) EU-27 (VU), SPEC 1 None Arctic Warbler None Red Listed in FI (VU) and SE (EN) Willow Warbler SPEC 3 None Spotted FlycatcherSPEC 2 NoneCrested TitNoneRed Listed in FI (VU)Eurasian NuthatchNoneRed Listed in FI (VU)Sibirian JayNoneRed Listed in FI (NT)BramblingEU-27 (VU), SPEC 3Red Listed in FI (VU)European GreenfinchNoneRed Listed in FI (VU)Eurasian BullfinchNoneRed Listed in FI (VU) Several ‘common species’ among the adopted species

More are candidates to come (?)Here the trends in Denmark for the 12 candidates.Notice the Short Term trends which might be an early warning!

The protection part of the toolA part of the ‘awareness tool’ is a tool making a total overview of actual legislative protection measures for all 85 species in all six countries.The tool lines up for each of the species in each of the countries:Whether the nest is protected (all year/breeding season/not) Whether the surroundings are protected This information is displayed below with the Awareness Indicators for each species [if information is missing – please confirm with national authorities]

Some early findingsProtection of nests:Most countries have implemented the ‘prohibition of deliberate destruction’ from the Birds DirectiveExcept for Finland where this does not apply for forestry (!)Some countries have all-year-round protection of nests of specific species (eagles and Black Stork for instance):

Scientific name English name DK EE FI LV Ciconia nigra Black Stork x x - x Milvus migrans Black Kite - x Milvus milvus Red Kite x - - x Haliaeetus albicilla White- tailed Sea Eagle x x x x Circaetus gallicus Short- toed Eagle - x - x Accipiter gentilis Nothern Gooshawk x Clanga pomarina Lesser Spotted Eagle - x - x Clanga clanga Greater Spotted Eagle - x x x Aquila chrysaetos Golden Eagle x x x xPandion haliaetusOspreyxxxxFalco peregrinusPeregrine FalconxTetrao urogallusWestern Capercaillie-xColumba oenasStock DovexGlaucidium passerinumEurasian Pygmy Owl-xAegolius funereusTengmalm's OwlxCoracias garrulusEuropean Roller--xPicus viridis Green Woodpecker xDendrocopos mediusMiddle Spotted Woodpecker- xDendrocopos leucotosWhite-backed Woodpecker- xPicoides tridactylusEurasian Three-toed Woodpecker - x ”x” means nest protected all year ”-” means not breeding

Some early findings, continuedNest surroundings:Only EE & LV do have legislative protecting measures for surroundingsFI have protected by Nature Conservation Act the sites of a few species - it is forbidden to destroy or deteriorate sites important for the following species: Black Kite White-tailed Sea Eagle Greater Spotted Eagle Golden Eagle Peregrine FalconWhite-backed WoodpeckerSome other countries have recommendations (SE have for 66 species and brings the recommendations in force when giving permits for clear-cuttings)The Estonian and Latvian protection measures in form of micro-reserves (MR) are outstanding.

Latvia

Latvia

Summing upA tool is developed which is highlighting the conservation concern for 85 forest speciesGiving an overview in form of eight ‘Awareness Indicators’ for all 85 species in six countries giving no less than 510 different ‘Awareness Profiles’STILL missing those 12 ‘coming up’-species, which might be candidates to future red lists (but which are dealt with in another tab of the tool)Giving a short overview of the actual protection measures in force in each country.

So what do we need?To get the listed species off the listsTo prevent upcoming species from ending thereTo develop hard and soft measures to fulfil thisLegislative as well as ‘private’ (certification)