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  1. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I haven't done any TTVs this year - my local 10km squares had all exceded their minimum 8 tetrads and with a new baby in January, I didn't feel able to take on any squares further afield. However, I was interested to see that my previous efforts (15 TTVs and 687 roving records), although modest...
  2. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I managed my second winter visit to NO38B near Loch Muick in Aberdeenshire today. I thought I had better take advantage of the easing in winter conditions as the arctic seems set to return again in the next couple of weeks. The road up Glen Muick was pretty icy but manageable and I made it...
  3. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I did my first winter visit to NO38B near Loch Muick in Aberdeenshire today. I was meant to do this last winter but by the time I got round to it the snow prevented me from getting up the glen, so I thought I had better get my first visit in early this winter! I set out fairly early in the...
  4. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    No38b I did my first breeding TTV of the year today - NO38B (Map). This is a remote tetrad in Glen Muick in Aberdeenshire, at the end of an 8 mile single track road. Due to the snow I hadn't managed to do my winter visits to this tetrad, so it was good to finally reach it today. The weather...
  5. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Sounds like a good day out Ken. I'm afraid I abandoned attempts to cover one of my Deeside tetrads this winter - it was near Loch Muick and after one attempt to get up the road to it at Christmas I haven't dared to try again!
  6. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I finally got round to doing my first tetrad of the winter today (NJ40M) and the finch flock issue was a significant factor. I had spoken to the landowner of a large part of this tetrad beforehand. As he was very enthusiastic about birds it made things a lot easier as I felt happier wandering...
  7. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Jays are pretty common in conifer forests here (probably the main habitat I see them in), although usually there have to be some broadleaves (e.g. oaks) not too far away. I've yet to start any tetrads this year - I have only taken on two so far, due to most of my nearby 10K squares having...
  8. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I seem to remember having had that sort of problem before. I think I left it out of the TTV and entered the fledgling as a roving record.
  9. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I've never managed to confirm breeding for Jays either. I quite often see Jays carrying food like this in the autumn, so I don't think it can be used as confirmation of breeding. Still finding Goldcrests here - not in massive numbers, but not noticeably scarce either.
  10. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    A lovely day here for atlasing too, so I got round two adjacent tetrads this morning, not too far from my house. Quite a mix of habitats ranging from farmland and small woods through extensive conifer plantations to native pinewood and small areas of open moorland. Highlights included a...
  11. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Me too. I won't start my breeding tetrads until the end of this month, although I will start putting in roving records. I haven't seen any summer migrants yet.
  12. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Heather seed seems to be their main food here in the winter, when you often find them at the moorland edge. Last weekend I did a tetrad where Bullfinch was the most commonly encountered species (36 in two hours, all in small groups). In the summer though they are quite difficult to find...
  13. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Yesterday I returned for my second winter visit to the four moorland tetrads at the corner of NO48, NO49, NO58 and NO59 which I first visited back at post#306. Map. Once again weather was a primary concern. The forecast didn't look too bad the night before (sunny but with a strong south-east...
  14. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I assume that's for a 2 hour TTV. The figures I calculated were per hour, so c. 5 - 6km for a 2 hour visit. As Ken says, the nature of the habitat makes a difference but so does the terrain underfoot. Quite a lot of my tetrads have been moorland which is not particularly rich in birds at this...
  15. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    In a slightly sad and nerdy way, I decided to try to calculate how far I walk in an hour while doing a TTV, now that I've done a reasonable number of them. The shortest distance was 2km and the longest 3.3km, but there was a a high level of consistency with most visits clustered around the mean...
  16. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I took the day off work yesterday to do my first 4 tetrads of the winter. I had chosen 4 moorland tetrads at the corner where four 10km squares meet, NO48, NO49, NO58 and NO59. Map here. I had planned to do them at the weekend but the weather was pretty poor and with various things occupying...
  17. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Looking at the results summary on the atlas website, I was surprised to see that more tetrads were completed last winter than during the summer fieldwork season, despite the same number of tetrads having been allocated for both seasons. I would have thought summer fieldwork would be more...
  18. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I also saw an ostrich on one of my timed tetrad visits. I didn't count that either!
  19. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Probably not! I think they are interested in exotic species living wild (black swan etc.), but I doubt if there are any genuinely wild-living chickens in the British Isles. Otherwise I could have put in a roving record of this occupied nest in my garden! Edit: Just realised this photo could...
  20. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Hi Mark, When you log into the atlas website, the box at the right hand side (called 'Your Atlas Options') has an option called 'Square Summaries'. Click on this and it provides a list of squares that you have entered data for (TTV or roving records). You can then click on any of these...
  21. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Dodgy records Has anyone else noticed dodgy records in the summary data for their 10km squares? I was looking at the square summary for this 10km square and noticed that the species list included Eider, Red-throated diver and Sandwich Tern. I suppose anything is possible, but these species...
  22. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    No59i I completed the last winter visit of my four tetrads today, in glorious sunshine. NO59I is situated just south of the village of Aboyne and runs from the banks of the River Dee up to the top of Birsemore Hill (330 metres). Much of the tetrad is forestry plantation (mostly Scots pine and...
  23. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    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 -...
  24. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    Only one year out of the four.
  25. Capercaillie71

    Atlas listing

    I had the same confusion when I did my first TTV. I was just keeping a count for the whole two hours and only realised I was meant to keep separate counts when I came to fill the form in. Fortunately I hadn;t seen that many birds, and I knew roughly where I was when I reached the one hour...
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