The Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a huge and exciting project that will map the abundance and distribution of birds in Britain and Ireland during the breeding season and winter. It will be fascinating to look at the changes in distribution since the last breeding and wintering atlases. There have been two previous breeding atlases (1968-72 and 1988-91) and just one previous winter atlas (1981-84). Have Buzzards continued to expand? Where do we find Snipe in the winter? Are Siskins in the same places in summer and winter?
So given we have already had three previous atlases, and have regular monitoring through surveys like Breeding Bird Survey, Wetland Bird Survey and bird recording through BirdTrack, why do we need another atlas? It’s important to remember that long-term surveys such as the BBS are sample surveys and provide us with information on trends in populations. They do not aim to cover all of Britain and Ireland; rather they aim to have a good geographical spread of survey sites. Atlases give us the opportunity, about every 20 years, to visit all 10-km squares in Britain and Ireland and tell us what is there and approximately how common they are. It’s a snapshot of bird distribution and abundance in time.
Atlases have provided vital information for bird conservation. One of the important findings from the last breeding atlas in the late 1980s was the widespread range contraction of many of our farmland birds. This led to detailed research into the causes of these declines. Will the results from Bird Atlas 2007-11 show similar results for some woodland bird species? Will the conservation efforts for farmland birds have made a difference? One thing is for sure, the results from this atlas will be the basis for the conservation of birds in Britain and Ireland for the coming decades.
As birdwatchers, many of us are interested in numbers, distribution and change. It will be fascinating to see the changes between the two previous breeding atlases. It’s amazing to think that Little Egret was only recorded as a non-breeding visitor in three 10-km squares in the 1988-91 Atlas and now they are breeding in many counties.
Given it is over 25 years since the last Winter Atlas, we can also expect to see some significant changes in the distribution of birds in this season. Great Grey Shrike was fairly evenly distributed across Britain, with just one record in Ireland. During 1981-84, they were recorded in 239 10-km squares and the winter population was thought to be around 150 individuals (and low during the atlas fieldwork period). In recent years, numbers have been much reduced. Conversely, for Pink-footed Goose we can expect to see an increase in range and abundance. In November 1983, Pink-footed Goose numbers reached 101,000 individuals and this has increased to around 271,000 in October 2004. The winter distribution map for the 2007-11 Atlas will certainly be different.
Thousands of birdwatchers will take part in fieldwork throughout Britain and Ireland. We need all of your records – whatever you see, whenever, wherever! There are two components to the fieldwork:
Timed Tetrad Visits (TTVs) and Roving Recorders. TTVs involve two visits in the summer and two in the winter to a tetrad (2 km x 2 km square). Each visit is for a minimum of one hour and the idea is to record species you see and hear along with numbers, so that we can calculate the relative abundance of species in the 10-km squares. We are aiming to cover a minimum of eight tetrads in every 10-km square (there are 25 tetrads in a 10-km square).
Of equal importance are general birdwatching visits to 10km squares (Roving Recorders) where the aim is to compile a species list of everything you see and hear. We will also be gathering evidence of breeding as we go along. With over 60,000 tetrads in Britain and Ireland there is a lot of counting and recording to be done!
One of the common questions about Atlas fieldwork is “How can we find all the species in a tetrad in a one or two hour visit?” It is important to remember that the mapping in the national Atlas is at the 10-km level, even though the fieldwork (TTVs) is carried out at the tetrad level. We do not expect you to find all of the species in a tetrad because some species are scarcer than others, and some are harder to detect than others. We will be able to calculate relative abundance at the 10-km level by using the information collected during the TTVs at the tetrad level. Pilot fieldwork has shown that by covering a minimum of eight tetrads out of 25 in a 10-km square, we will have enough information to produce good estimates of relative abundance. Fieldwork for the 1988-91 Atlas explored the potential biases in choosing a minimum of eight tetrads (birdwatchers are bound to choose the best ones!) through the Key Squares Survey. The Atlas aims to produce maps of relative abundance and not absolute abundance.
Here in Suffolk we are going to take the opportunity to carry out our own Tetrad Atlas. We have set up a working group to oversee the project with the aim of publishing the results thus providing vital information for bird conservation here in Suffolk.
Members of the working group are Steve Piotrowski, Dr Peter Lack, Andrew Green, Colin Jakes, Nick Mason, Andrew Easton, Rob Wilton and Mick Wright. The group can be flexible enough to co-opt expertise as and when required throughout the Atlas period.
You can make a real contribution to the Atlas. I am very keen to recruit 10 km coordinators to help with the workload in order to achieve full fieldwork coverage.
From 1st November 2007 if you wish to help by being a roving recorder, 10 km coordinator or a TTV surveyor please make contact.
To find out more, visit the website www.birdatlas.net or contact Mick Wright on 01473 710032 or email Mick Wright the Atlas Co-ordinator for Suffolk.
Dawn Balmer is the Atlas Co-ordinator for England and can be contacted at the, BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU. Email: dawn.balmer@bto.org