Birds in Birds Directive areas: trends in numbers
The trends for most bird species in the Birds Directive areas are rising or stable.
Trends
Special protection zones (Birds Directive areas) have been designated for many of the species in the Birds Directive. These species include species from Annex I and also species that meet the 1% criterion. In total, there are 30 breeding birds of which 28 are from Annex I and 10 of which meet the 1% criterion (8 of these are also in Annex I). In addition there are 53 migratory waterfowl and overwintering birds, all of which 4 meet the 1% criterion and 15 of which are also in Annex I. Many of the breeding birds are rare, but the migratory waterfowl and overwintering birds include many common species.
Many of these breeding birds (left-hand figure) and migratory waterfowl (right-hand figure) increased in numbers within the Birds Directive areas between 1980 and 2000. The Birds Directive came into force in 1979, but its implementation is still ongoing in the Netherlands. The increase in many species is also attributable to the fact that a large part of the areas have had some sort of protected status for years. Nevertheless some species are declining: seven breeding birds (tawny pipit, ruff, purple heron, short-eared owl, common tern, little bittern and black tern) and five migratory waterfowl and overwintering birds (goosander, avocet, oystercatcher, turnstone and pochard).
