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  1. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Yes, same situation here in Surrey. There are still some tetrads with very few species listed. Unfortunately they are not particularly close to me (or any other birders it seems). I have been keeping an eye out for new tetrad 'ticks' although I haven't had much luck so far. In fact birds seem...
  2. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Brilliant job, Stephen. Your TTV page on the Atlas website must be enormous!
  3. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I had an interesting hol in the Lake District the last couple of weeks. It's getting harder to record breeding evidence now but I did have osprey and redstart carrrying food; and a good variety of birds in breeding habitat (including both flycatchers and dipper, and lots of crossbills, siskins...
  4. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Just to state the obvious, you can look up quite a lot of statistics on the Atlas website. It tells me that, during the breeding season, I have seen a total of 72 species whilst doing my 8 TTVs. I have submitted roving records at 82 locations, which included 130 species. For the winter...
  5. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I finally did my last TTV today. I've only done eight tetrads in all but even that represents 64 hours of TTV-ing. It feels a bit like the end of an era. :-O Today rather highlighted the reason why it's so enjoyable. I did TQ34L, which is an unremarkable area, typical of rural Surrey - farming...
  6. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Did my final 'early summer' TTV yesterday. It was a fairly typical bit of rural Surrey with no great features so I didn't get anything out of the ordinary. But with one of the 'bonuses' that make atlasing a bit more fun, I unexpectedly got two butterfly 'lifers' - green hairstreak and dingy...
  7. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge I was able to do a TTV today - Blindely Heath in Surrey TQ34S. It was a good area with a minimum of five singing nightingales and lots of common wablers (3 lesser whitethroats, for example). I was pleased to see a grey wag feeding young as they've been scarcer...
  8. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Tree sparrow and corn buntings would be 'megas' round here! I've submitted various roving records but I haven't done any TTVs yet this summer. I've got the royal wedding day earmarked for one. Ken
  9. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I finally completed my winter TTVs with TQ34S on Friday. It feels a bit like the end of an era! It's an attractive rural tetrad with some woodland, fields and some poor heathland. So I was reasonably pleased to get 36 species in two hours. No gulls, waders or raptors! Looking at the provisional...
  10. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Hi, Laura, I would say that the more roving records you can add to the Atlas the better. If you wait till your late winter visit there's no guarantee you'll pick up all the species present. Personally, I just put all the data onto the Bird Atlas website as I get it. I realise that I don't have...
  11. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I think there are some blank lines at the bottom of p4 where you can fill in additional species. I haven't tried but you might find that fudgexpochard can be typed in. Ken
  12. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Hi, Mark, I'd be amazed to get some of those species here in land-locked Surrey! I haven't really mastered the best way of reproducing charts like that. Did you take a photo?! Attached is my effort today. I just 'printed' the page as a .pdf. In Birdtrack there is a facility for printing off...
  13. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    You guys are so energetic! I did a two hour visit to TQ34L on Sunday. It was typical Surrey rural habitat... fields, hedges, small woods, the odd pond. The weather closed in before the end and so my count may have been a bit below what you might expect - but I had seen some good birds and I...
  14. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Thanks, Joanne, It could be useful although I'm not convinced that it's easier than using an OS map. Ken
  15. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Thanks, Al, Interestingly enough our county organiser has told us that if we see parties of swifts 'screaming' along street consistently, that is enough for confirmed breeding. Now that's not entirely consistent is it? I've since discovered that someone else got proof of my local reed warblers...
  16. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    You're prob. right Joanne. I'll revert to an A for the time being! But I think that I would count it as proved breeding if I was in charge!! Thanks for good wishes. I'm already heaps better thanks but it's taking time. Ken
  17. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I'm afraid I've had to miss my late summer TTVs this year due to ill health. Hopefully I'll catch up in 2011! I've got a couple of questions - just to make sure I'm entering Roving records correctly: 1) A little egret appeared for a day recently on my home tetrad. I have entered it as 'M' - I...
  18. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I had a similar quandry with a pair of gadwall in Surrey. They seemed to be doing some sort of display with the male arching his head back. But I just don't think that they are likely to breed. I entered them as 'D' but I'm going to change them to M. Ken
  19. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I wish I had that problem! M seems reasonable to me if they are not in breeding habitat. Ken
  20. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I did a heavily wooded local tetrad yesterday. My best sighting was a muntjack deer - first I've ever seen in the wild! There were lots of blackcaps and chiffchaffs but no other summer visitors. I was pleased to see grey wags nest-building. 30 species in all. Ken
  21. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I think you are right, Stephen. I haven't seen a single grey wag yet this year and they are normally reasonably common. It's possible that some have headed to other parts of the country, of course, so I'd be surprised if none appear by the breeding season. In my home tetrad, I haven't seen a...
  22. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Very interesting, Stewart. I've never heard of crossibills feeding on 'hand-outs' but I guess that birds are opportunistic. I seem to remember reading of crossbills feeding on seeding plants on Fair Isle. (I hardly ever see crossbills so I'm certainly no expert!). We've had long-tailed tits on...
  23. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I wish I had your energy, Stephen! I did one tetrad today, not the one I had intended as the council decided to close a road due to the icy conditions... bit of a farce as we had about 1cm of snow and it was quite passable. So I did the tetrad that includes Lingfield race track. Nothing too...
  24. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    Full marks for persistence, Stephen. We've had quite a bit of snow here and I don't think it reached 0 deg C today. It did mean that some birds were more approachable than usual. (see below) Ken
  25. Surreybirder

    Atlas listing

    I was lucky that my day off coincided (for once) with clear skies and no wind. I took the chance to do TQ34V, which is a very up-market housing estate surrounded by woodland. There were quite a few 'singing' nuthatches and a singing goldcrest. Highlight was a marsh tit. No real surprises but...
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