This database, initially compiled by John Tucker (Lanius), contains around 4,500 first record/arrival dates in Shropshire for 36 migrant bird species, dating back to the first record (of a Cuckoo on 9 April 1871, recorded by William E. Beckwith).
From 2021 onwards, Rachel Bromley took over maintenance of the record.
The data have seen subjected to two major analyses, first by John Arnfield in The Birds of Shropshire (Smith, 2019) and by John Tucker and Alan Reese in ‘Descriptive models for first-arrival dates for migrants in a inland UK county’ Ringing & Migration 31 (10: 1-7).
This valuable data source will be kept up to date annually.
- The database itself (in PDF format) can be accessed here.
- A description of the conventions and codes used in the database (in MS Word format) is available here.
The data are open access. For a copy of the current Excel spreadsheet or if you have any queries about the data, email smad@shropshirebirds.co.uk. Before making use of any data from SMAD (e,g, in a publication), please inform the SOS Chair at chair@shropshirebirds.co.uk.
