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BTO Breeding Bird Survey (1 Viewer)

joannec

joannec

Well-known member
Europe
I just wondered if some of you were involved in doing this survey and what your experiences have been. What's your square like, habitat wise? Where is it? Had any difficulties obtaining the necessary permissions? Seen anything rare, unusual or unexpected while carrying out your survey? I thought it would be interesting to exchange experiences.

For those of you who don't know about it, it is suppose to be a comprehensive survey of nesting birds in the Uk and will ultimately measure rises and falls in Uk nesting birds; their successes, declines and population fluctuations. I think it has been going for about ten years. There have been 2000 randomly selected 1km squares and the idea is that volunteers (mostly) visit their site twice, once in April/early May and once in June and systematically record every bird that they identify.

I did my early visit today and recorded 26 species, up on last years 21. My square is located in East Sussex and is on the edge of a rural town. Habitat is varied, dairy farm, small nature reserve, suburban streets and recreation ground. I only needed permission from the farmer who was obliging. Highlights were 23 swallows, 1 treecreeper, 2 house martins, 1 buzzard and a singing nightingale. It was interesting to do, I went places I wouldn't otherwise had gone to and it was fun.

So what were your experiences?
 
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iv neather done a nesting survey iv been on a survey where you must count how many birds you see in a specific area
 
My sqaure is my local patch or at least 50% of it - it's a small country park with immature mixed woodland, grassland with ponds and streams. The other half is cut off by a railway line and comprises arable/waste land.

I'll be doing the first survey this weekend.
 
I survey 2 squares....1 is at the back of the prison at Thorpe Arch....it's a good job the BTO supply the covering letter as I have been stopped a couple of times by the police wondering why I am lurking about near the prison at dawn.
Certainly get some interesting counts....first year I counted over 150 fieldfares in one field....not seen one since then. I have seen first hand the effects of grubbing out a hedge....the numbers of whitethroat and yellowhammers dropped and still haven't recovered 2 years later.
I've surprised brown hares and foxes, seen roe deer and hedgehogs and worst luck found mink in one of my squares last year...which probably explains why the numbers of coot and mallard were lower than previous years.
 
I do a square on Forestry Commission (sorry, Forest Enterprise) land in Devon.
I can really recommend it, it's a great way to spend a couple of hours in the early morning, you go places you never would normally and it's surprising what you see ... e.g. pair of Crossbills mating ...
 
A bit early yet for my early visit - I usually do it in the first week of May. I've got Manchester Southern Cemetry - the most exciting find was a wino asleep by a hedge - I'm not sure who was most startled when he woke up.
 
I used to run this scheme for the BTO until 2001 when I moved to the RSPB. It is a great way to get birders out there doing their bit. Results from indivudual squares won't tell you too much, but combined, the data allows us to chart the rise and fall of a good range of widespread terrestrial birds. I used to do three squares in Norfolk but now do 2 in Bedfordshire. Off this weekend to do my first visit of the year. Last year I saw a Red Kite, heard Nightingale and had 3 pairs of Turtle Doves. All good county records which would have been missed otherwise in what is a fairly standard bit of farmland.

Richard Bashford
 
TonyC said:
A bit early yet for my early visit - I usually do it in the first week of May. I've got Manchester Southern Cemetry - the most exciting find was a wino asleep by a hedge - I'm not sure who was most startled when he woke up.
Click to expand...

I laughed when I read this, Tony, I can just imagine the surprise, probably thought he was being spied on.
 
RiB said:
I used to run this scheme for the BTO until 2001 when I moved to the RSPB. It is a great way to get birders out there doing their bit. Results from indivudual squares won't tell you too much, but combined, the data allows us to chart the rise and fall of a good range of widespread terrestrial birds. I used to do three squares in Norfolk but now do 2 in Bedfordshire. Off this weekend to do my first visit of the year. Last year I saw a Red Kite, heard Nightingale and had 3 pairs of Turtle Doves. All good county records which would have been missed otherwise in what is a fairly standard bit of farmland.

Richard Bashford
Click to expand...

Hi Richard

As you're an expert in this survey, can I ask you some questions. When I was doing the survey, I briefly saw what I took to be a meadow pipit but it could have been a tree pipit (it was in a large scots pine on the edge of a grass field.). I've recorded it as a meadow pipit as that is more common and in that sense more likely. As one is meant to keep walking along the planned route and not stray, I didn't investigate fruther. I am still not entirely sure which it was. Should I have not recorded it at all? What would you have done?

Another question, when you see birds, say swallows, in one 200 metre section, then you see them again in the next 200 metre section but you suspect they are the same swallows, do you record them twice. I have done this, knowing they are probably some of the same ones. There doesn't seem to be any way on the form to indicate that they are probably the same ones.

Thanks,
Joanne
 
Sorry for delay in reply. To be fair, if you're not sure, the most accurate thing to do is not record it if unsure. You could spend a bit of time looking and trying to work it out from call or plumage but you're right, to spend loads of time searching for one bird while doing the survey means you'll not be doing the survey the same way as the next person. The guidelines are to keep everyone doing the survey is as similar way as possible so results can be compared.

As for the Swallows, try and record only once. Of course, you might not be 100% sure but just try and do you best to estimate if the birds have been counted already.

Richard
 
This was the first year for me participating in the survey. In hindsight I could have managed a couple more squares. Maybe next year I will. Once you get your head around all of the guidelines and working out transects it was pretty straight forward to do.

I did the first visit on 30th April recording 38 species in total from the two transects -

Little Grebe 2
Mute Swan 4
Canada Goose 2
Shelduck 4
Mallard 26
Pochard 4
Tufted Duck 18
Ruddy Duck 2
Pheasant 4
Moorhen 5
Coot 12
Lesser Black-backed Gull 4
Skylark 1
Swallow 2
Wren 2
Dunnock 1
Robin 7
Blackbird 6
Song Thrush 1
Grasshopper Warbler 2
Sedge Warbler 3
Whitethroat 15
Blackcap 4
Chiffchaff 2
Willow Warbler 13
Long-tailed Tit 2
Blue Tit 6
Great Tit 4
Magpie 9
Carrion Crow 5
Tree Sparrow 3
Chaffinch 14
Goldfinch 15
Linnet 2
Bullfinch 2
Yellowhammer 4
Reed Bunting 10
Feral Pigeon 13

Quite a few 'regulars' missing from the list for a normal visit - but then I don't normally walk in two straight lines!

With such varied habitats of hedges, roads, car park, streams, tidal beck, ponds, sewage works, immature and mature woodland, railways lines and grassland in such a small area along the transects, it's a good location for both number of birds and number of species. Though maybe not very representative of the surrounding area which is mainly arable farming.
 
Sounds a good list of birds. I'd agree the instructions are detailed and really this is to meke sure everyone surveys in the same way. The actually process of undertaking the survey is very simple - the instructions should answer any questions. One other point to add is that results will never be looked at from one square in isolation. The strength of this scheme is the numbers of squares covered. So in terms of IanF's contribution, the stats for NE England (or wherever the survey was done), will be better. The more people that take part, the more accurate the results.

In Beds, we had around 30 squares covered which is not really enough to calculate local trends but still of great use at a local level. However, we've really had a good go at getting everyone to do their bit and now have over 50 squares covered. BTO will provide summaries for Bird report editors so you have some usful info on common and widespread birds.

My first survey on Sunday was pretty good - Bullfinch and a few Lesser Whitethroat, Nightingale and a Red Kite!

Richard Bashford
 
Never actually participated in a full BBS but i'm currently using the BBS methodology to help me map the terretories of yellowhammer on a Northumberland farm. Will be assessing nest site choice, breeding success and foraging behaviour in relation to environmental factors i.e. organically managed or conventionally managed farmland (its split right dow the middle).
 
Yawn - I was out at 05:30 this morning for my early visit. Usual suburban stuff and a Mallard flew over. Sadly House Sparrow numbers were well down and totally missing from one area where they used to be regular. No House Martins yet either ,which are usually back by now.
 
Im using the BBS techniques, well a combination of transects and point counts to identify breeding bird species for land to be developed, this means that the site will only get 3 visits. These 3 inital surveys are started 1 hour after dawn and finish before 11am. what i would like to know is what time should i be looking for nests of birds in specific habitats ie scrub and hedgrows and how should i be doing it? At the moment i still go out early and patrol along the hedge visually looking in the hedge for the nests and any signs of alarm calls because im there. I also stand for about 20 minuets per 100m of hedge just watching. Is this the right way of locating nests? and can i start later and watch throughout the day?
 
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