Restoring abandoned coppice for birds: Few effects of conservation management on occupancy, fecundity and productivity of hole nesting birds

Changes in woodland management practices are implicated in observed population changes of many European woodland birds, yet the long-term effects of woodland management on bird demographics is poorly understood. Using detailed long-term (55 year) datasets of both woodland management to plot level, and breeding birds from nest box monitoring, from an upland oak woodland in southwest England, I investigated effects of conservation management aimed at restoring abandoned oak coppice to a more natural and varied vertical structure, and hence its suitability for hole nesting birds, through singling and thinning. Effects of management on nest site occupation and breeding parameters for four hole nesting birds; blue tit, great tit, pied flycatcher and common redstart were examined. Blue tit nest site occupation was higher in managed plots irrespective of time since management. Common redstart nest site occupation was lowest in plots managed >8 years previously. No convincing effects of management on nest site occupancy were found for great tit or pied flycatcher, with inter-specific competition most important. Management had no influence on clutch size or productivity of any of the four species; instead weather variables had some influence on clutch size and productivity. Blue tit clutch size was influenced by spring weather with smaller clutches associated with higher temperatures and increased rainfall. Productivity of blue tit, great tit, pied flycatcher and common redstart was influenced by weather, with lower productivity tending to be associated with rainfall in the months when they were provisioning young. Together this suggests management, at the intensity undertaken within the study site, has a very limited role in determining nest site occupation and demographic rates of hole nesting woodland birds and that other factors such as weather, particularly rainfall, is of greater importance.