UK Biodiversity Indicator C5, Birds of the wider countryside and at sea

Bird population indices for the UK, serving as a long-term indicator for the state of wildlife. The data includes breeding population sizes of common native birds across farmland, woodland, freshwater, and marine habitats, with the latest data point from 2014. This is one of 24 official UK biodiversity indicators published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee on behalf of Defra.

Use Cases

• Assessing long-term population trends for common UK bird species based on the described smoothed trends.
• Evaluating the health of specific habitats (farmland, woodland, freshwater, marine) based on the indicator's habitat breakdown.
• Interpreting short-term ecological fluctuations by comparing year-to-year indices against smoothed trends.
• Monitoring progress towards UK biodiversity targets based on the official indicator status.

Strengths

• Part of a suite of 24 official UK biodiversity indicators, providing a standardized framework.
• Bird populations are described as a well-studied taxonomic group with better-understood drivers of change.
• Includes both raw year-to-year indices and statistically smoothed trends for formal assessment.

Limitations

• The latest data point is from 2014, which may limit analysis of recent trends.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) on behalf of Defra.

Collection Method

Likely compiled from long-term bird population surveys; the supporting technical document details the methodology.

Time Range

Time series data up to 2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-14 09:45:50.986466; freshness should be verified as the underlying data is from 2014.

Geography

United Kingdom.