Common Standards Monitoring guidance for birds - JNCC

Issue date: August 2004
they are chosen, will then form the basis for establishing the target values to be met at each
assessment.
3.2 Interest Features and Reporting Categories
3.2.1 The Guidelines for the Selection of Biological SSSIs allow for the notification of SSSIs
according to a variety of criteria for birds, including the site's international status (as a
Ramsar site or Special Protection Area). Guidelines and criteria for selecting international
sites are also varied. However, selection criteria can be broadly described under three
interest feature categories:
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Aggregations of breeding birds
Assemblages of breeding birds
Aggregations of non-breeding birds
3.2.2 The interest feature categories listed above and in the guidance tables are also the agreed
reporting categories for birds.
3.2.3 In the example of a nationally important breeding population of red-throated divers the
appropriate attribute table is 1.1 (feature qualifying under criteria 3.1 of the SSSI Guidelines)
and the feature interest category is ‘aggregations of breeding birds’.
3.3 Attributes of Bird Features
3.3.1 The designation of sites for birds relies on several basic attributes:
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Population size of individual species or groups of species
Density of breeding pairs for a key species of wader
The number of species present that are within a defined assemblage (but not the
populations of those species)
The extent of habitats used by the birds in the site for nesting, roosting, feeding or a
combination of these behaviours dependant upon the season
3.3.2 In addition to these, attributes relating to habitat quality and disturbance are important
considerations for effective site management.
3.3.3 Monitoring of both bird populations (size or diversity) and the extent of habitats are
fundamental to assessing the condition of bird features, and are therefore mandatory
attributes. However, detailed monitoring of habitat quality and disturbance have not been
included as mandatory needs in this guidance largely because the influences of each on bird
features is poorly understood, so meaningful targets cannot be set. The guidance relies on
using an indirect way of assessing habitat condition and disturbance by the direct monitoring
of bird population size or diversity; both typically respond relatively quickly to deterioration
in habitats or living conditions and so provide an effective means of early detection of
problems in a site.
3.4 Using the Attributes Tables
3.4.1 This guidance has two sets of attribute tables: Part 1 and Part 2 (Table 2; which is available
as a separate document on the JNCC website).
2