Avifauna Supplement

Avifauna Supplement

This online supplement to the book The Birds of Shropshire: a County Avifauna has been created to publish material used in the production of the printed book, but which does not form part of that volume. If you require more information about the book itself, follow this link.

Maps and Related Tables for Nearly All Species

  • All of the maps* compiled from records collected during recent Atlas Fieldwork (2007-13), along with associated data for interpreting these maps and all of the Tetrad Occupancy Tables, whether these appeared in the printed volume or not. Additionally, the breeding season distribution maps* from An Atlas of the Breeding Birds of Shropshire (1992) are included for comparative purposes. This is a considerable additional resource. For example, standard breeding and winter distribution maps have been compiled for all species with 5 or more records in the appropriate period; only 218 of the latter (less than one-quarter of the total) have been published in the book. To access the index for these resources, follow this link.

Resources Related to the Interpretation of the Species Accounts

  • An index to Histo (The Historical Ornithology of Shropshire website), in the form of an Excel spreadsheet with all records listed in species (alphabetical) order and then chronological order. The index content can be accessed by typing the species name into your spreadsheet’s search facility. This index is for the website as it stood at April 2015, when authors were consulting it for their accounts. The Index is updated as and when new data are added to the website. The up-to-date index can be found here. To download the April 2015 version (which is an Excel [.xls] file), select this link.
  • Data supplied by BTO used to calculate the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) charts in the book for 34 species. To download this table (which is an Excel [.xlsx] file), follow this link.
  • The BTO Online Ringing Reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015 (Shropshire only), downloaded from the BTO website. This report is updated annually, so the totals for each species change, and the size of the national database means that only the more interesting records can be published each year. To make space for newer, more interesting records, older ones are often removed, so it is no longer possible to find many of the Ringing Recovery records and figures quoted in the species accounts in the book on the BTO website. Note that, as well as the different method of calculating the 2014 figures (which included retraps and recoveries close to the ringing site, which were not included in the previous or subsequent reports), the 2014 report downloaded from the website contained a systematic error, so that often the totals for “Found in Shropshire and Ringed in Shropshire” did not equal “Ringed in Shropshire and found in Shropshire”. The version here has been recalculated to correct this “technical glitch”, but the original data on the BTO website itself were not replaced. Download these Ringing Reports (in Word [.docx] format) using the following links:
  • GardenBirdwatch (GBW) graphs for Blue Tit, Starling, Chaffinch, Greenfinch, Blackcap, Brambling, Fieldfare, Goldfinch, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Redwing and Siskin in Shropshire, together with the associated data table, supplied by BTO, showing the reporting rate for each of the 52 or 53 weeks each year since 1995, demonstrating the importance of gardens for those species, and population change.
    • Reporting rate data. ‘Reporting rate’ is the proportion or percentage of Shropshire gardens enrolled in GBW reporting the species each week. Select this link to download this information (which is an Excel [.xlsx] file).
    • Follow this link for GBW reporting rate graphs.
  • A summary of species covered by the recent Review of Records of Rarities (Holmes and Walker, SBR 2011), which assessed all rarity records between 1950 and 1996, when a Rarities Committee was established. The spreadsheet presents two lists, both in taxonomic species and chronological order, listing every known rarity record from 1950 onwards. (The relevant CSVFC records cover 1950–55, while SOS records cover1956–2014.) The species order is that accepted when the review started (before the 2015 order) and each record has a reference number (Column A). The categorisation of the records in the decision column (column J), shows them as A=Accepted, E=Escape, R=Removed). The first list (in black) gives accepted records, while the “no longer considered proven” records are grouped together in red at the bottom of the sheet. No reference is made in the species accounts in The Birds of Shropshire to the records no longer considered to be proven. To access this resource (which is an Excel [.xlsx] file), follow this link.
  • Annual occurrence charts for Barnacle Goose, Black-necked Grebe, Grey Plover, Bar-tailed Godwit, Turnstone, Knot, Temminck’s Stint, Sanderling, Pectoral Sandpiper, Hoopoe and Rock Pipit, which showed no apparent pattern or trend, and contained only a handful of birds in half or less of the 65 years covered. Follow this link to view these charts.
  • Additional material drafted for the Lesser Whitethroat species account, which was too detailed for inclusion in the printed book. Follow this link to read this material.
  • Two articles by Tom Wall relating to gamebirds, submitted to The Buzzard but very relevant to the interpretation of the appropriate sections of the appropriate species accounts in the printed book.
  • A table listing, for all 870 Shropshire tetrads, the number of species in each breeding category (confirmed, probable, possible). To acces this table, which is in plain text [.txt] format, follow this link.

Resources Related to Other Chapters

  • A full statistical analysis of the Shropshire Migrant Arrival Database (SMAD), calculating the advance in first arrival dates, together with graphs of SMAD first arrival dates shown as a function of year of observation. To see this material, follow this link.
  • The Government Agricultural Statistics that were used to create the graphs in the Habitats chapter. These are statistics for the whole country, with Shropshire (or Shropshire plus Telford and Wrekin) highlighted. Download Excel file.
  • RSPB Review of Raptor Persecution in Shropshire, the full article provided by Guy Shorrock (RSPB Senior Investigations Officer). Download Word file.

*Acknowledgement: All maps were produced by John Arnfield using DMAP software.
Copyright: All materials made available on the Avifauna Supplement website are © Shropshire Ornithological Society, unless explicitly stated otherwise. If you wish to make use of maps, tables or other content, you will require the permission of the Board of Directors of SOS (chair@shropshirebirds.co.uk).
Problems with the Avifauna Supplement Website: To report problems, please contact webmanager@shropshirebirds.co.uk.

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Page updated: 13/07/2020