We receive approximately 80 barn owls per year
The Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme (PBMS) is a long-term, national monitoring scheme that quantifies the concentrations of contaminants in the livers and eggs of selected species of predatory and fish-eating birds in Britain.
We monitor the levels of contaminants to determine how and why they vary between species and regions, how they are changing over time, and the effects that they may have on individual birds and on their populations.
The Scheme is run by the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and is funded jointly by Natural England , the Environment Agency (EA) , the Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use (CRRU) and CEH.
PBMS READY FOR BUSY TIME OF YEAR
Late winter and early spring are one of the busiest times of year for the predatory bird monitoring scheme. With prey numbers are at their lowest, and dawn and dusk coinciding with commuting times we see an increased number of raptors being submitted scheme.
This can lead to a delay in the time it takes to carry out a post mortem examination on the birds we receive. However, every predatory bird that is submitted to the scheme receives a post mortem examination. The results of which are sent to the person who found the bird.
If you find a dead raptor during this period that you wish to submit to the PBMS then we kindly request that you keep the bird in a cold place, and contact Lee Walker :-
Lee Walker, Tel. 01524 595830
e-mail: leew@ceh.ac.uk
This site was developed by the Biological Records Centre, CEH © 2006
