The Biodiversity of Bac Huong Hoa Nature Reserve - Birdlife ...

as an Important Bird Area (IBA). This survey used interviews and opportunistic fieldwork to
investigate the occurrence of IBA trigger species.
Recognising the importance of the forests of BHH, a second week long survey was conducted in
February 2004, focussing on the most intact areas of forest, those close to Khe Cuoi and Ban Cup
villages (Le Manh Hung et al. 2004 and Dan Ngoc Can 2004). The aim of this survey was to
create a more complete inventory of the bird and mammal species of the forests of Bac Huong
Hoa and to collect status and distribution data on globally and nationally threatened species.
In April and May 2004, experts from IEBR conducted herpetological surveys in the forests of
Bac Huong Hoa, again focussing survey effort on the well forested areas close to Khe Cuoi and
Ban Cup villages. These surveys recorded 61 species of reptile and amphibian, including one frog
species Philautus truongsonensis, which they described as new to science (Orlov and Ho Thu
Cuc 2005). This remains the most comprehensive herpetological survey of the forests of Bac
Huong Hoa but the results were not widely published.
Le Trong Trai conducted biodiversity surveys in Bac Huong Hoa in mid 2005 in preparation for
the creation of an investment plan for BHH NR. The results of this survey were published in the
investment plan for the nature reserve (Anon 2005). During this survey, a number of additional
species were recorded for the first time and includes the only comprehensive plant survey of the
area. Although this survey focused on only one relatively small area close to Cup village, 920
plant species were recorded. As part of the 2005 surveys, Jeremy Holden conducted one month of
camera trapping with nine cameras in the forests of Bac Huong Hoa (Holden 2005). However, no
mammals or birds were recorded (Le Trong Trai pers. com.), although this may in part have been
because ideal locations for cameras were all already taken by snare traps set by hunters.
In 2006 a rapid survey of reptiles and amphibians in Quang Tri Province was conducted, which
included a short survey in the forests of Bac Huong Hoa (Cao Tien Trung in prep.). A wildlife
trade survey was conducted in 2006 in 10 villages and three towns in or close to BHH NR (Dang
Ngoc Can et al. 2006). This survey recorded a small number of mammal species not previously
reported from the nature reserve.
Since the establishment of the nature reserve, monitoring of key mammal and bird species has
been conducted by Site Support Groups (SSGs) set up by BirdLife. Monitoring by these groups
has yielded data on most of the key species through a series of short surveys in 2004 and 2005.
However, the quality of the data is variable and difficult to quantify (Wilkinson and Nguyen
Thanh Van 2006); apparent trends in populations are equally likely to relate to trends in observer
skills or behavior.
BHH NR has been visited briefly by other ornithologists on a number of occasions, for instance,
Andrew Tordoff visited in January 2005, Nicolas Wilkinson in 2006 and Jonathan C. Eames and
Simon Mahood in May 2008. Unpublished incidental observations made during their visits have
been incorporated into this report.
No data on fish, small mammals, bats or invertebrates have ever been recorded in BHH NR.
14