BAP Species on the Little Wittenham Nature Reserve
A small group of volunteers has carried out bird surveys and a year-round ringing program at the reserve for many years, and all the data collected has been passed to the British Trust for Ornithology and the Northmoor Trust.
More than 140 different species of birds have been sighted on the reserve since 1985. Of these, about half have bred on site. Most are listed on Appendix 2 of the Berne Convention, which lists 'strictly protected' European fauna.
Three UK BAP 'Priority Species' that breed regularly on the reserve (though the first two are more common on adjacent farmland):
The multitude of breeding UK BAP 'species of conservation concern'include:
Other UK BAP species which utilise the reserve are:
Protecting Birds
The Trust's land is host to the only 'Constant Effort' site monitoring bird populations in Oxfordshire, regularly supplying information to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO).
Monitoring work such as this help the Trust manage its estate sensitively for the benefit of all wildlife. In the late 1950s, this type of careful monitoring first identified the potentially lethal impact of the pesticide 'DDT' on birds. Researchers discovered that earthworms were accumulating the persistent pesticide and that the robins eating them were being poisoned. Other birds fell victim in different ways, such as the thinning effect DDT was having on sparrow hawk eggshells. The sparrow hawk was affected because the small birds on which it preyed, were feeding on the poisoned worms and so on through the foodchain.
Mike Rogers
Ornithologist.
