EU acts to protect future of bird facing extinction in UK

European commission moves to halt loss of habitat for migrating turtle doves

Jennifer Rankin in Brussels

Thu 25 Jul 2019 13.13 BST Last modified on Thu 25 Jul 2019 17.00 BST

The European commission has launched legal action that could protect one of the best-known birds of the English countryside from extinction.

The turtle dove – once a familiar sound of summer in south-east England – has been in steep decline since the 1970s because of intensive farming across Europe.

The birds are now listed as vulnerable by BirdLife International, a global partnership of conservation organisations, and are on the brink of extinction in the UK. With their mottled chestnut and black wings, the dainty birds feature in Shakespeare, the Bible and were the true love’s gift on the second day of Christmas.

Ariel Brunner, the senior head of policy at BirdLife International, said the turtle dove was “on life support” in England and could disappear from the English countryside by 2021 without urgent action across Europe. “The turtle dove is an iconic species that was providing the soundtrack of spring since the times of the Bible’s Song of Songs. But it is now racing to extinctionbecause of unsustainable agriculture and hunting.”

The commission announced on Thursday that France and Spain had not done enough to protect the birds from habitat loss and hunting during their migration from the Sahel to their breeding grounds in northern Europe. Spain hosts more than half the EU’s breeding population of turtle doves, while France has another 10%, meaning conservation efforts in those countries will be critical for the future of the birds.

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French campaigners go to EU over hunting and trapping of birds

Official complaint lodged with EU says rules breached on hunting and trapping

Kim Willsher in Paris

Mon 1 Apr 2019 17.48 BSTLast modified on Tue 2 Apr 2019 07.32 BST

Bird protection campaigners are to lodge an official complaint with the European Union accusing France of breaking rules on hunting and trapping and failing to protect endangered species.

The Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO) is using the 40th anniversairy of the EU’s “bird directive”, which outlaws the “massive or non-selective” killing of birds to highlight what it deems cruel and illegal methods.

These includes gluesticks covered in adhesive lime and set in trees or bushes to catch birds when they land, traps that crush the birds with heavy stones, and nooses.

The LPO says it was forced to act after the French government refused to respond to its complaints and the state council approved gluesticks, saying the method was traditional and there was no other satisfactory method of trapping the birds.

Stone crush traps, once banned for a century, were legalised in France in 2005 and are also considered unnecessarily cruel as often the birds do not die instantly.

Read on

EU conservation law has positive impact on protected bird species

Bird species which are protected under the EU Birds Directive have fared better since 1980 than unprotected species, research has found. The study also showed that climate change does not undermine the effectiveness of the Bird Directive.

28 October 2015 / Ecology

EU Member States must take special conservation measures to protect certain species under Annex I of the EU Birds Directive. The researchers used bird species data gathered as a result of the reporting requirements of the Birds Directive to compare the population trends of these species to those of non-Annex I species.

The findings are good news for the legislation. Last September, the EC launched a public consultation on the Birds Directive as part of its REFIT ‘fitness check’ on whether it is fit for purpose. The UK-based authors have said their works shows that “multilateral conservation agreements can have significant benefits for wildlife even in the face of unprecedented climate changes.”

The study assessed long-term (1980–2012) and short-term trends (2001–2012) for all breeding bird species occurring naturally in the 27 member states. Using a statistical computation system, they found populations of Annex I species were better maintained than those not listed on the Annex. This effect applied to both time periods, and was more pronounced in countries that had been in the EU for longer.

At the same time, the team examined they evaluated the effect of climate change on the birds. To account for the effects of climate change, the researchers calculated whether the species would expand its range and population as a result of climate change, or whether the range of the species would narrow.

The results indicated that Annex I status has a strong, independent effect on a bird species’ population, despite its response to changing climate.

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Birdlife Malta seriously concerned at opening of trapping season

BY GOZO NEWS · OCTOBER 17, 2015

In a statement issued today in reaction to government's publication of two legal notices opening a trapping season for finches and another for golden plover and song thrush, Birdlife Malta said it is very disappointed at the Government's decision and insistence of opening another trapping season when the European Court of Justice will soon be deliberating over Malta's defiance. BLM has called on Environment Commissioner Karmenu Vella to take immediate action to safeguard migrating wild birds.

BLM said the Government's defiance is an indication of the lack of appreciation in protecting migrating birds, and of its political commitment to respect the treaty signed by Malta when it became an EU member state. A treaty which explicitly banned bird trapping after 2008.

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EU under pressure to ban diclofenac to protect Europe's vultures

Veterinary drug for cattle that led to collapse of vulture populations of Asia is a risk to 55,000 birds, says European Medicines Agency 

John Vidal

Monday 15 December 2014 17.52 GMT

Pressure is mounting on Europe to immediately ban a drug used by vets which has been linked to the poisoning of vultures and other birds which feed on the corpses of cows treated with it.

The use of veterinary diclofenac, a pain-killing anti-inflammatory medecine given to livestock led to the unintentional but almost complete collapse of many vulture populations in Asia in 1990s and early 2000s. But a loophole in Europe allows it to be legally used in Spain and Italy where nearly all Europe’s estimated 55,000 vultures live. 

Now, following an investigation of the death of a Spanish vulture in 2012, theEuropean Medicines Agency has confirmed that vultures and other carrion-eating birds are at risk. The European commission asked the agency, which is responsible for the scientific evaluation of all medicines developed by EU drug companies, to consider the risks it posed to birds after scientists and ornithologists protested when Spain authorised use of the drug on cattle last year. A dose of just 0.1–0.2 mg/kg body weight can cause rapid, lethal kidney failure.

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Europe urged to investigate £60m bird protection scheme

Published on the26November 2014 

THE European Commission has been asked to urgently investigate a £60m scheme to protect birds displaced by a massive “green energy” development on the Humber by a farmer who says it is likely to fail.

Able UK wants to build Europe’s largest offshore wind park on the south bank of the Humber - a £440m development set to create more than 4,000 jobs but which will also destroy mudflats which are one of the top sites in the country for black-tailed godwits.

Proposals to flood hundreds of acres of agricultural land at Cherry Cobbs Sands at Keyingham, almost opposite, as part of legally required “compensation” have not been proven to work, according to tenant farmer Stephen Kirkwood.

Mr Kirkwood who faces seeing a quarter of his land going underwater has now lodged complaints with the European Commission and the European Parliament.

Mr Kirkwood said the disruption could affect five per cent of the Icelandic population of black-tailed godwits and there was compelling evidence from other similar sites “that at least a proportion die or lose vigour.”

He says if that happens it will mean the UK Government has failed its obligations under the Habitats Directive and could be liable to a massive fine.

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