Atlas listing (3 Viewers)

[Mike Cook]

Test for embedding a .pdf file

This probably won't work. This is my list for tetrad NZ29Q for both early and late winter visits.
View attachment 121576
I could not find a way of formatting a table to get the data directly into a post. This was the best I could come up with. It's interesting though I think, seeing the data for both visits side by side, seeing which species are missing from one visit or the other and how much the counts differ.

I'm assuming most users have Acrobat Reader. Does anyone know if readers are available for Macs and for Linux?

This should link to a map of the tetrad http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/jsp/map_print.jsp?mapX=427000&mapY=591000&zoomLevel=7&isNI=&mapAction=zoomabs&isGeo=y

Mike:t:

 

[Surreybirder]

This probably won't work. This is my list for tetrad NZ29Q for both early and late winter visits.
View attachment 121576
I could not find a way of formatting a table to get the data directly into a post. This was the best I could come up with. It's interesting though I think, seeing the data for both visits side by side, seeing which species are missing from one visit or the other and how much the counts differ.

I'm assuming most users have Acrobat Reader. Does anyone know if readers are available for Macs and for Linux?

Mike:t:

I'm impressed with your technical wizardry, Mike. Did you copy the date into a spreadsheet first? And how do you embed the attached document?
Your species list is quite impressive for what I assume is a less rural habitat than mine. I think you live near Jesmond Dene - is that where you did these TTVs? Next time I'm in N'castle I'll send you a PM in case we can link up.
Cheers,
Ken

 

[Mike Cook]

Did you copy the date into a spreadsheet first? And how do you embed the attached document?

Hi Ken,

What I tried was too complicated. I copied and pasted both sets of data into a spreadsheet, used a Pivot Table to get a single list of species, sorted it in Voous order and then used Match and Index functions to pull across the data. Interesting to play with but not practical for small data sets as it took too long to get my relative and absolute references sorted out.

An additional problem was that the species names copied from the Atlas report contained a trailing space which I had to strip out before I could sort them in Voous order.

Next time I'll load in the data sets side by side and then insert partial rows to line everything up.

I then used CutePDF writer (free download) to create the file.

Embedding worked a treat. Use the Paperclip button to first upload the file and then to insert it in the post. The size limit for PDF files is 1.93MB and my file was 12 KB so I wasn't pushing the upload limit.

What I don't know is if there is a limit on the number of attachments a member can have. If I carry on publishing data as attachments, will I eventually have to remove the attachments from older posts? Mind you, the size of my attachments would be insignificant compared with that of the photographs that other members include every time they post.

To answer your other question, I deliberately chose an area up in Northumberland for my TTVs, rather than doing Jesmond Dene, my local patch. I've got a set of tetrads bordering on Druridge Bay which would be great if there wasn't two dirty great open cast coal mines stuck right in the middle of them! I'm leaving those tetrads until last, hoping mining may be finished and the site landscaped by 2011.

As you suggest, let me know if you are ever in the area.

Best wishes

Mike

 

[Surreybirder]

Ah, yes, I had a look on the BTO map and can see where NZ29 is. It should be a very productive area, especially the coastal tetrads.
I must try the paperclip thing - sorry it's a rather random file. Now why's it attached rather than embedded?
Ken

 

[Mike Cook]

Now why's it attached rather than embedded?
Ken

Ken

Haven't a clue! The trouble is when you are playing around trying to get something to work, you don't always remember quite what you did.

Your way is probably better than mine because you display the number of views of the document. This is good because there is no point in posting PDFs if no one looks at them.

Mike

 

[Mike Cook]

Post 181 now has a link to a map of the tetrad.
Mike:t:

 

[Mike Cook]

Tetrad NZ29K observed for 2 hours on Friday 11 Jan 2008

Habitat. I think the area is mainly land that has been reclaimed following opencast mining. There are two ponds, one on each side of the track, with the west pond consistently holding more birds. To the north of the west pond there is an area of willow and alder carr that, like the ponds, is managed by the Northumberland Wildlife Trust as a nature reserve.

For OS map of the tetrad click here

We counted the birds on both ponds, stopping the clock as it took some time. We then walked north up the track, exploring the footpath on the right as far as the edge of the tetrad and then carried on towards South Linton. On the early survey, we had walked west along the path that runs along the south bank of the River Lyne, but this time our way was blocked by an enormous puddle. Only having walking boots rather than wellies, we turned back and went round the nature reserve before walking past the car and out to the main road. Sorry, I did not mean we only had walking boots - we were fully clothed as well. It was a bit cold for naked rambling.

The weather was overcast but dry with a moderate breeze. The temperature was around freezing with mud that was frozen solid when we started out softening by the time we finished.

Highlights. Around Linton Ponds we had 4 Mute Swan, 1 Canada Geese, 5 Wigeon, 6 Gadwall, 60 Teal, 3 Mallard, 10 Shoveler, 16 Pochard, 13 Tufted Duck and 1 Goldeneye. There were 16 Black-headed Gull, 400 Herring Gull and 30 Great Black-backed Gull. There were also 23 coot but only 5 moorhen.

My wife saw a kingfisher flying away from us across the pond but I missed that as I was counting teal at the time! I think I need to engage my feminine side so I can multitask, and observe Kingfishers at the same time as counting Teal.

Apart from the usual thrushes, tits and corvids, there was also a nice flock of 10 siskins in a conifer plantation and a reed bunting as we came back through the alder carr. We also had 10 Pink-footed Geese fly over us at one stage. This went in as a Roving Record rather than an extra so I could record the count.

This is a full list of both visits: View attachment 121691

I'd appreciate a bit of feedback about this post. Is it over the top? Are people interested in this kind of detail?

Do the links to the OS map and the PDF file work? I know that these things sometime tend to be browser dependent. It seems OK on Opera.

Mike

 

[Surreybirder]

Not over the top as far as I'm concerned, Mike.
This is my write-up:

http://getamap.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap/frames.htm?mapAction=gaz&gazName=g&gazString=TQ3743
is the URL for TQ34R. In case it's of interest, this is a brief account of my TTV last Saturday:

 Tetrad ref: TQ34 R
 Name of tetrad: Newchapel
 Habitats: mixture of mature woodland, grazing and some wetland
 Date and weather: 12th January 2008 – cool, calm, cloudless
 Notable sightings: little owl, 15 siskins, buzzard, stonechat, 2 sparrowhawks, coal tit, no collared doves!
 Impressions: This was my second TTV for this tetrad. In contrast with the first visit, there were some significant flocks of birds. As instructed, I stopped my watch while I counted 160 black-headed gulls, 71 jackdaws and estimated 38 starlings (which flushed before I could do an accurate count). I had lovely views of two great spotted woodpeckers in Shawlands Wood; and the nuthatches were vocal. The stonechat was only seen because I deviated from my planned route to check out a small bird creeping around the edge of a flooded field (it turned out to be a pied wagtail). A grey wagtail appeared soon afterwards.
The first hour produced 33 species and the second 26 – like many, I guess, I did the ‘best’ habitat (Shawlands Farm and Wood) first. It was just as well because the clay pigeon shooters started shortly after I left. I was frustrated that a buzzard flew low overhead while I had the watch stopped (when I was retracing my steps) but I then saw a second one. The siskins were in alders during the second hour. It took me a while to get a reasonably accurate count and the treecreeper was seen while I was doing this. Coal tits are surprisingly thin on the ground round my home so I was glad to hear one singing.
The little owl was very near the edge of the tetrad and well away from the two regular nest sites so I’m hoping that a third territory will be established. It may be a tricky species to get during the summer TTVs.

 

[Stewart J.]

Not over the top at all Mike and Surreybirder, I personally find it very interesting to read the reports of other Atlas workers.

ATB

Stewart

 

[Mark Grantham]

We also had 10 Pink-footed Geese fly over us at one stage. This went in as a Roving Record rather than an extra so I could record the count.

It is worth remembering as well that fly-overs should always be recorded as Roving Records with the status code 'F', as these birds aren't actually using the square. The exception of course are birds of prey (and hirundines in the summer) that are using the square! Common sense should prevail though - a record of a Red Kite quartering a field is somewhat different to a record of a Red Kite several hundred metres up drifting over on passage...

There is a record of Pink-footed Goose in one of my squares in south Norfolk and I'm sure they were just fly-overs.....

Mark Grantham
BirdTrack Organiser

 

[Jamspangle]

best moments square bashing in Ireland - a merlin having a pop at a small flock of redwings, a pair of gadwall on my 'home' square (plopped down in front of me with literally less than a minute to go!), a black necked grebe also plopping down in front of me and some great sightings of crossbills. My TTV species list up to 90 now for the winter.

 

[Mike Cook]

Tetrad NZ29W

Habitat. NZ29W is a coastal tetrad with sandy beaches and rocky areas. The village of Cresswell stands on the coast. The path from Blakemoor Farm up to Ellington Village crossed pastures; one with sheep and the rest currently empty. Going was heavy with water and mud around gates and stiles.

The road back down from Ellington to Cresswell had arable fields on the left and with housing, pasture with horses, woods and a caravan park on the right.

For a map of tetrad - Click here

Weather. The weather was fine and dry. The temperature was about 7°C but it felt colder with the fresh breeze. Apart from the mud and water in the fields, I don’t think the weather could have been better for a winter survey.

Highlights. The coast was productive with 200 Wigeon and 15 Eider. The Wigeon surprised me as I’ve never seen so many on the sea before. I’ve always regarded them as wintering on coastal fresh or brackish water, not on the sea. There were good numbers of waders with 140 Oystercatcher, 50 Sanderling, 10 Dunlin, 56 Curlew, 60 Redshank and 20 Turnstone. The winner though was 4 Purple Sandpiper, always nice to see and not found during the early survey. The Curlew and Oystercatcher were mainly in the field across the road from the beach, all the other waders were on the rocks at Cresswell. Also on the beach were 3 Pied Wagtail, 1 Grey Wagtail and 2 Rock Pipit.

The walk across the fields was much quieter apart from the 200 Wood Pigeons. Star bird of the day though was a beautiful female Merlin shamelessly displaying herself on a fence post about 25 metres from the path. This is probably my best ever view of a Merlin and we watched her for more than five minutes.||

Combined total for tetrad for two winter visits: 40 species

We had the cross into NZ29X to get from the road to the footpath so we detoured to the hide looking over Cresswell Ponds. I’ll be adding roving records for Smew and Scaup! I just hope they’ll come back next winter for when I do the TTV for that tetrad.

Click here for a detailed list including early visit View attachment 122149

Mike:t:

 

[Capercaillie71]

One of my tetrads only had 7 birds in it! (2 Red Grouse and 5 Wrens).

I did my second visit to this tetrad today and managed the grand total of 7 Red Grouse and 4 Wrens!

The neighbouring, lower-lying tetrad that I did on the same visit had noticeably fewer birds than during my November visit: 10 species instead of 13. Most noticeable difference was that the 3 - 4 pairs of Stonechats that had still been on their normal breeding areas in November had completely disappeared after the cold and snowy weather we have had since early December.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Revisited SD33N around the village of Staining, near Blackpool today. It was striking just how much water there was compared with the first visit, indeed a road I use was closed to traffic though I was able to wade through in wellies. The changes in conditions were reflected in the best birds not seen in the first visit - Mute Swan and Cormorant. Otherwise Great Spotted Woodpecker and Goldcrest the highlights of a TTV I had the luxury of starting from my front door.

Stephen.

 

[Surreybirder]

I did a prelim. recce of TQ34Z today (which I plan to TTV in a future year). It was not too exciting with the highlights being 15 skylarks, 2 buzzards and 10 linnets (first I've seen in TQ34 since 2006!). However, it should produce more variety on a good day (i.e. when there are fewer fisherfolk) as there as some fishing ponds.
Ken

 

[StevieEvans]

NZ34 Rover

had a look in a grotty rough place today & finally found a Stonechat that has been missing from list for 5+ year !
Found a pair of Seo's roosting 8' or so below a pair of Leo's which was nice too.
Yesterday morning a Skylark pair were back on territory, with male in full song.
Previous day an early Tawny owl with 2 eggs.
Other more unusual species recently- 1 Jack Snipe very scarce this year, fem Hen Harrier - only 2nd patch record in 20 years, Yellow Legged Gull, & 7Buzzards in air together over a large pheasant shooting estate.
Steve

 

[JoanT]

Am I alone in not being able to login to the BTO website with my username and password.

Last night whilst trying to submit roving records I had just entered them pressed the button at the end to submit them and nothing happened. Tried again but never got anywhere, just an error message came up and now I cannot log in to either this survey or any other survey I am subscribed to. Web site comes up with Invalid entry!

I have just written to support but was wondering if mine is an isolated instance or any one else had problems last night with entering records. It was around 5pm or so I started to get problems.

Joan

 

[Surreybirder]

/rhere ws a notice about them upgrading a server yesterday. It's possible that you logged on while the upgrade was takingplace.

 

[Mike Cook]

Last night whilst trying to submit roving records I had just entered them pressed the button at the end to submit them and nothing happened. Joan

Don't worry Joan, it's not just you. Exactly the same thing happened to me. I entered about 15 roving records and then it timed out after I pressed the accept button so I lost them all.

They are upgrading their web server and trying to tune it to give better reponse.

I don't think they are there yet. I managed to add a single roving record this morning and this was accepted. I then tried to look at data for the tetrad and was still waiting 12 minutes later.

All we can do is wait. I'm sure the improvement will be worth it.

Mike:t:

 

[JoanT]

Don't worry Joan, it's not just you. Exactly the same thing happened to me. I entered about 15 roving records and then it timed out after I pressed the accept button so I lost them all.


. I managed to add a single roving record this morning and this was accepted. I then tried to look at data for the tetrad and was still waiting 5 minutes later.

Mike:t:

Glad it is not just me but I can't even log on to re-enter it or even look at my WEB or BBS data.

Joan