On the week the SRMS celebrate its 20th birthday, we are pleased to share our latest issue of Scottish Raptor. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme.

To mark the occasion of our 20th birthday many of the representatives who sit on the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Group, share their messages of ongoing support for the SRMS. We will be holding a celebratory event later this year – Friday 25th November – for which details and booking information will be made available in due course.

As well as bringing you up to speed with the work of the Scheme, in this issue we have a number of invited articles, including an update on the Avian Influenza situation which is impacting raptors and a piece looking back at the history of Golden Eagle and Peregrine monitoring in Central Scotland.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please email the SRMC – srmc@bto.org.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

The SRMS is pleased to announce the publication of its annual report covering the 2020 breeding season. Find out how Scottish raptors fared in 2020 by reading the latest report which can be accessed here. Supplementary data tables linked from the report can be accessed here.

The latest issue of Scottish Raptor is now available. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme.

Hopefully it is not too early to wish all our readers a very Merry Christmas. As well as bringing you up to speed with the work of the Scheme we have a number of invited articles, including an update on work undertaken by SASA’s Wildlife DNA Forensic Unit to build raptor forensic DNA databases and an update on the work of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please email the SRMC – srmc@bto.org.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

The SRMS is pleased to announce the publication of its annual report covering the 2019 breeding season. Find out how Scottish raptors fared in 2019 by reading the latest report which can be accessed here. Supplementary data tables linked from the report can be accessed here.

The latest issue of Scottish Raptor is now available. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme.

We hope that all our readers, their friends, families and colleagues are safe and well and that this issue will bring a bit of cheer to our contributors in what can only be described as an odd year. As well as bringing you up to speed with the work of the Scheme we have a number of invited articles. We celebrate 40 years of the SRSG with an article written by Chris Rollie (Chair of the D&G branch of SRSG), and have an interesting article from Davie Black of Mountaineering Scotland in relation to rock climbing and crag-nesting raptors. Some of our readers also share some of their own lockdown raptor highlights.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please email the SRMC – srmc@bto.org.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

The latest issue of Scottish Raptor is now available. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme.

Please could all data contributors take special note of our statement on the current Covid-19 situation in relation to their fieldwork for the current breeding season.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please complete the form here.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

The latest issue of Scottish Raptor is now available. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme. In this issue, you can read about the experiences of several raptor workers in the field and how you may be able to help with a Kestrel study in Northern Ireland.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please complete the form here.

The SRMS is pleased to announce the publication of its annual report covering the 2018 breeding season. Find out how Scottish raptors fared in 2018 by reading the latest report which can be accessed here. Supplementary data tables linked from the report can be accessed here.

The latest issue of Scottish Raptor is now available. Please take a look here to find out all the news from the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme. Find out about recent developments within the Scheme, how an Orkney-born Hen Harrier was discovered in the Netherlands and how you can help to identify constraints that prevent researchers from getting involved in raptor monitoring and sampling.

Back issues of Scottish Raptor can be accessed here.

If you would like to sign up to receive future issues of the newsletter by email then please complete the form here.

An article authored by Amy Challis and representatives of the SRMG has just been published in Bird Study.

The Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme: recent developments in good practice monitoring shares our experiences and approaches of coordinating a nationwide raptor monitoring programme.

A full copy of the article is available Open Access here. The abstract is reproduced below.

ABSTRACT

Capsule: The Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme (SRMS) has been operational for 15 years and provides many examples of how nationwide monitoring programmes for raptors and other scarce bird species could be developed.

Aims: To share experiences and approaches to the coordination of a nationwide raptor monitoring programme that other countries can use when embarking on their own monitoring programme for raptors or other scarce species.

Methods: We present seven current developments to enhance the SRMS, including: (i) profile raising, (ii) producing robust population trends, (iii) increasing monitoring of widespread species, (iv) expanding the volunteer network, (v) enhancing reporting on causes of breeding failure, (vi) developing an online data entry system and (vii) mobilizing data for conservation purposes.

Results: We present the first results on survey coverage and trends of raptor species in Scotland and highlight some of the challenges, including production of trends, data mobilization and lack of diverse income streams.

Conclusion: We recommend that new raptor monitoring programme should at the outset ensure that the aims of the monitoring programme are clearly defined and that agreement is reached regarding how data will be stored and shared. Consideration should be given to the potential uses of the data and the intended outputs from the programme, and the suitability of scheme design to meet the agreed objectives. A recording system that captures all required aspects of the data recording should be devised and implemented at an early stage.