In Partnership with the British Trust for Ornithology

Working to produce an Atlas of Wintering & Breeding Birds in Shropshire ,

and contributing to the National Bird Atlas

NEW NATIONAL AND COUNTY BIRD ATLASES

HELP WANTED, PLEASE!!

Introduction

Nationally, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is organising surveys to update distribution maps and relative abundance maps for all the species published in The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-1991 and The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland (1986).

The Shropshire Ornithological Society (SOS) is participating in the national surveys, but is also taking the opportunity to produce a similar publication for the County at a more detailed level, incorporating a new Breeding Bird Atlas.

Fieldwork for this exciting new project started on 1 November 2007 and will cover four winter periods (Nov to Feb) and four breeing seasons (April to July approx) each year through to July 2011.

The recording unit for Shropshire will be the tetrad (a 2x2 kilometre square on the Ordnance Survey (OS) National Grid).  Each of the 870 tetrads in the County will be surveyed for both wintering and breeding birds in at least one year between 2007 and 2011. Winter visits have started, and continue to February.  Breeding season visits mainly start next April, and continue until July. 

Why?

An Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Shropshire (1992) published distribution maps for nearly all the 122 species that nest here and estimated their populations. It was the last survey covering the whole of the County. There have been many dramatic changes since then - for example, Lapwings have disappeared from many areas, whereas several birds of prey and Raven have spread - but we do not know by how much. What has happened to the less conspicuous species? The Atlas therefore needs updating to inform important local conservation work such as the Shropshire Biodiversity Action Plan and targeting the new Environmental Stewardship agricultural subsidy system to help farmland birds that are in decline. 

We have never done a local Atlas of birds in winter, or attempted to count them.

Who Can Help?

All SOS, BTO, RSPB, SWT and Community Wildlife Group members, and anyone else interested in birds, can make an important contribution, at whatever level you are comfortable with. Sending in records of the birds seen while out walking or visiting local reserves will be very useful. Hopefully many members will make an even bigger contribution, by making several visits to a tetrad and recording everything seen. This is usually very enjoyable – it takes us to the quieter parts of our lovely County, where we wouldn’t otherwise go! Keen members can also help with timed counts.

What’s Involved

              Winter Atlas.  The aim is to get a full list of species found in each tetrad and an estimate of abundance (obtained by a timed count).  Initially, two 2 hour counts will be carried out in selected tetrads, one in Nov/Dec and the other in Jan/Feb. These are called Timed Tetrad Visits (TTVs).  Trials have shown that around 80% of all the species in the square will be recorded during these counts. Any common species overlooked can be searched for later and they can be recorded on a Roving Record (RR) form.  However, rather than spending too long searching for missing species at this stage, time may be better spent moving on to do counts in a new tetrad. 

If you do not want to do the 2 hour TTV you can still contribute by compiling a tetrad species list.

In addition, if you live or work in a particular tetrad, or visit it regularly, you can record any extra species you see on the RR form.  These forms can also be used to record birds seen elsewhere in the County (or country!!), which is especially useful if you see difficult or scarce species such as woodcock, owls etc.

              Breeding Atlas.  The procedure for the Breeding Atlas is essentially the same as for the Winter Atlas, to obtain a full list of species found breeding in each tetrad and an estimate of their abundance.  The two 2 hour Timed Tetrad Visits should take place in April/ May and June/July. The later dates in each period allow for the later breeding season in northern Britain. Better results will be obtained locally (and the difficulty of eliminating recently fledged birds from the count will be reduced) if the second count is done early in June. To allow a suitable gap between the counts, the first one should ideally be done in April. However, the counts can be done at any time in each of the two periods.  

In addition, we also need to record evidence of breeding, so more frequent “roving” visits are needed in the spring and summer.  Such evidence can range from a singing corn bunting (Singing = Possible Breeding) to a blackbird with a beak full of worms (Feeding Young = Confirmed Breeding).  Nest finding is not necessary and all the breeding categories will be clearly explained in the instructions.  Because some birds breed early in the season and some late, regular visits about 10 - 14 days apart are ideal. The breeding categories found can be entered on the Roving Record form.

              Tetrads.  If you have not helped with previous surveys, and are not familiar with tetrads, please click here.  If you are still baffled give one of us a call and have your OS map to hand.

Training & Advice

Carrying out the survey is not difficult and full instructions will be provided. 

Training sessions have already been held but further training will be provided before the breeding season surveys. Details will be available nearer the time.

Until then, further local training will be organised for anyone who wants it through Area Co-ordinators as necessary, perhaps including a survey of a sample tetrad, so please let us know what you want.

Area Co-ordinators 

Fieldwork is being organised by nine local Area Co-ordinators (ACOs). They will provide each helper with advice, clear guidance on what to look for and forms to record it all, for the tetrads you are going to survey, and/or those where you live and/or visit. They will also allocate additional tetrads to those members who are willing to give more help by travelling to nearby areas which are difficult to cover because few people live there.

The Area Co-ordinators’ main job is to ensure that all tetrads are fully covered in at least one year during the four year Atlas period.

Each Area, and the name of the Co-ordinator, is shown on the Map (click here to see the map). 

Contact details for ACO's area : -  

    Note: Area 4 has been split between areas 1 and 7

SOS & BTO partnership

The Atlas is a joint partnership between the two organisations.  The forms and instructions have been provided by BTO, and all record sheets will be returned to BTO. They will input the data into a specially designed computer programme, and return it to the County after each season for checking.

Please note that the BTO will be producing national maps at the 1Okm scale rather than the tetrad level which we need for our local Shropshire Atlas.  We therefore need to collect all our data at the tetrad level so please ensure that you record the tetrad location for all observations.

Tetrad Record Cards

The RR forms provided by BTO are mainly designed for transcription of records from a notebook at the end of each season. However, most fieldworkers in Shropshire will be making several visits to a particular tetrad to find all the species in it, and in the breeding season we will be trying to upgrade the level of breeding evidence already found for each species. People will find it difficult to remember what they have already recorded, and what they still need to find, particularly those doing several tetrads.

SOS has therefore produced a pre-printed card which lists the all the species we are likely to find. Some fieldworkers will find it easier to use than a notebook.  It can be taken out on each fieldwork visit. As it will already show what has been found, fieldworkers can concentrate on finding what is still missing. Cards are available from all ACOs .

Getting Involved

Ideally we would like volunteers to take on a tetrad, and complete the four TTVs, compile a full species list (winter & summer) and collect breeding evidence (summer) in the tetrad.  People with more time can take on as many tetrads as they want.

Tetrads will be allocated to volunteers on a first come first served basis and you can register now for both the first winter and first breeding season.  Registration is necessary to avoid duplication. To register, your Area Co-ordinator will need your name and postcode (or your user id if you already use BTO on-line systems), and the tetrads you wish to cover.

If you do not feel able to do Timed Tetrad Visits but are willing to collect Roving Records it will still be extremely useful to know which tetrads you wish to cover.  Full instructions and recording forms will be provided.

If you have access to the web you can visit www.birdatlas.net. Links from this page will show which tetrads are allocated.  You can register for a tetrad on this website, but it would be more helpful if you discussed your involvement with your ACO.

You can also enter your records on line if you wish, and see how the Atlas is progressing, on this website.

Further Information

If you want to help, or want more information before committing yourself, please contact your Area Co-ordinator if you can identify him/her otherwise contact, Allan Dawes (01691 654245  email allandawes@btinternet.com ) or Leo Smith (Atlas Publicity Officer on 01588 638577 email leo.smith@dsl.pipex.com ).

Regular updates will be provided in The Buzzard (the SOS Bulletin), and on the SOS Website www.shropshirebirds.com, while the national Atlas web site: www.birdatlas.net provides more information about the national surveys.

Please help with this vital and enjoyable conservation work!!!

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