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Random image from the image gallery. All images are copyright the original photographer.
Random image from the image gallery. All images are copyright the original photographer.
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Nottinghamshire Bird Atlas 2007-2011

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About The Breeding and Wintering Bird Atlas

Most members of Notts Birders will know that the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), in association with related organisations such as Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and BirdWatch Ireland, has produced a series of ‘Atlases’ showing the distribution and abundance of our islands’ birds. The three main reports were published in 1974 (breeding birds), 1986 (wintering birds) and 1993 (breeding birds again). These books have been used extensively by scientists and conservationists to plan and develop their work. They have been critically important in studies as diverse as the effects of climate change on bird distribution, and in developing plans to screen wild bird flocks for avian flu. Twenty years have passed since the last of these atlases and the BTO has decided that it is time for an update. This time the survey will involve both summer and winter records to give a picture of our birds at both seasons.

The Atlas will be based upon tetrads of the National Grid; a tetrad is a square of land measuring 2 km along each side. The British Isles are mapped as a series of 10 km squares, so there are 25 tetrads in each 10 km square. The BTO is asking for 8 tetrads to be surveyed from the 25 in each 10 km square. However, Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers have decided to take this opportunity to map the entire county, covering every one of the 550 tetrads. We intend to use the results as the basis for a new Birds of Nottinghamshire; the last of these was produced by Austen Dobbs as long ago as 1975. The BTO survey is planned over a four year period from 1 November 2007 to 31 July 2011, so to complete the field-work, we will have to survey about 140 tetrads each year.

There will be two parts to the field-work: ‘Timed Tetrads’ and ‘Roving Records’.

Timed Tetrads involves visiting a tetrad for two hours during Nov/Dec, Jan/Feb, Apr/May and Jun/Jul in one twelve-month. Tetrads do not have to be visited every year, once only will suffice. Each visit is to be divided into two one-hour periods, and every bird seen or heard during each hour should be counted. Thus, the four visits will take two hours each; so we are asking you to give up four mornings for every tetrad that you cover. The route through the tetrad should be designed to include a representative cross section of habitats. If you feel that your bird identification skills are enough to participate in this type of field-work, the BTO Regional Organiser would be delighted to hear from you and help you to choose one (or more!) tetrads for you to visit. Only one recorder will go to each tetrad, so you will need to liaise with her to ensure that you do not waste your time by surveying a tetrad that has already been counted. You can either contact her directly (see below) or find your own tetrad using the website www.bto.org/birdatlas.

If you are not sufficiently confident to volunteer to count birds in a tetrad, there is still plenty that you can do to help. We also need observers for ‘Roving Records’. This is much easier and, indeed, anyone (and I mean anyone) can be involved. You simply record the birds that you see when you are out for a walk (provided you know where you are on an OS map). If you are not sure about this, then why not record the birds in your garden? If you get Blue Tits, Great Tits, Robins, House Sparrows and Great Spotted Woodpeckers coming to the bird feeders in winter, then you have just got five records for the Nottinghamshire winter map. If you have Blackbirds nesting in the hedge, Blue Tits in the nest box and Robins in that old kettle in the greenhouse, then you have three breeding records for the summer map. It really is that easy! And it doesn’t matter where you live; we need inner city records just as much as those from suburbia or rural parts of the county. Every bird is a potential dot on the map.

You can print a recording form from the top of this page: there are two versions, one a PDF version the other as a Word document. The first winter season lasts from 1 November 2007 to 29 February 2008. Use the form to record the birds that visit your garden, local park, workplace or allotment this winter. Fill in the address and postcode where you have made the observations, and we can identify the tetrad for you. At the end of February, bring the form along to the next indoor meeting (or send it to me, David Parkin). I will happily send you another for the summer with details of how to record breeding birds. And if you think that we are not interested in your Robins and Blue Tits, you are very wrong; if these birds occur in a tetrad, we would rather get reports of them from 20 different people than not to get them at all. So, put the form by the kitchen window and write down each bird as you see it.

The local BTO organiser is Lynda Milner (01623 862025 or lyndamilner@hotmail.com)

The Notts Birdwatchers' co-ordinator is David Parkin (0115 9320090 or bluethroat@btinternet.com)

We plan to publish a book, based upon this field-work, showing the distribution and abundance of Nottinghamshire’s birds, hopefully by 2012. So start recording on 1 November 2007. Please remember that every record counts.

David T. Parkin


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Nottinghamshire Birdwatchers | 2008