Results

Key messages

- The common bird index declines with 21% for 2005-2013.
- The farmland bird index declines with 21% for 2005-2013.
- Population trends of Birds inside High Nature Value (HNV) Areas decline with slower rate than outside them.
- Birds in decline are 30% of all species assessed and those in increase are only 7%.
- 169 bird species are registered in 2013 which is the highest number of species registered from the start of the initiative.
- In 2013 were surveyed 132 survey plots - the highest number in the last seven years.
- We assessed the state of 59 bird species for the period 2005-2013.
- The species with most unfavourable trend are House Sparrow (-50%), Hooded Crow (-60) and Goldfinch (61%).
- The species with significant increase is Common Whitethroat (156%).
- The species with stable trend are Skylark, Common Chaffinch, Magpie, Jay and Golden Oriole.
- The major threats for farmland birds are scrub removal, grassland ploughing and intense use of pesticides.
- In total 2936 km of transects were surveyed across the whole country during the period of the field work.
- CBM features as the most suitable large scale monitoring tool for assessing the effectiveness of agri-environmental measures.
- It is necessary to increase the uptake and large scale implementation of agri-environmental measures in Bulgaria.