NatureScot Research Report 1152 - Conservation strategy for red-billed choughs in Scotland - Assessment of the impact of supplementary feeding and evaluation of future management strategies
Red-billed chough (Annex 1, Schedule 1, SBL, BoCC4 Green listed although British endemic subspecies Amber listed) in Scotland are declining, and are currently restricted to the islands of Islay and Colonsay (<50 pairs in 2018). They are threatened by lack of food (principally affecting first year survival), parasite burdens and low genetic diversity. An emergency supplementary feeding programme was therefore initiated in 2010 at three sites on Islay with treatment of parasites from 2014. These birds have been monitored since 1983, giving exceptional data with which to model the population. The report summarises this work (2010-2019), and also uses models to assess overall ecological and genetic threats to the chough, with evaluation of future management strategies.
Pages: 67
Published: 2020
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