British Birds December 2014

BB eye - Making better use of county bird clubs and volunteers Managing and re-creating wetlands in Britain for potential colonists - Malcolm Ausden, and colleagues from the RSPB, identify bird species that have the potential to establish, or re-establish, regular breeding populations in lowland wetlands in Britain. Currently, for many of these species, there is sufficient potentially suitable habitat to support only very small breeding populations. They describe measures aimed at increasing the area of suitable wetland for these species and argue in favour of targeting habitat re-creation to establish a small number of very large wetlands (or clusters of sites in close proximity), rather than a large number of small, isolated wetlands. Important Bird Areas: the Akrotiri Peninsula-Episkopi Cliffs IBA, Cyprus - At the southern tip of Cyprus, and within the UK Overseas Territory, the diversity and extent of the wetland habitats at this site support great congregations of waterbirds in winter and spring, it is a bottleneck for migrating raptors in autumn and it supports important populations of many of the island's key breeding species. The site is under significant threat from habitat loss or degradation, chiefly as a result of development pressures - both military and civilian. The Bass Rock - now the world's largest Northern Gannet colony - The Northern Gannet colony on the Bass Rock has now overtaken St Kilda and Bonaventure Island to become the world's largest Northern Gannet colony. However, recent planning consent for four large offshore windfarms could pose a threat to this remarkable population. Letters Spotted Crakes during flood years Obituary Phil Hollom Book reviews, Recent reports and News & comment complete the December issue. To read the issue in full, you can subscribe to the journal on our website