Atlas listing (1 Viewer)

[Dawn Balmer]

Hi Mike

Pied Wagtail (Yarrellii) and Pied/White Wagtail are a real pain and will cause a problem here. Most people tend to enter Pied Wagtail as Pied/White Wagtail which is the default. Another pair to watch for is Mallard and Mallard (domestic). That one is down to interpretation by the volunteer, what one person would call a Mallard, another would enter Mallard (domestic) so it's possible that Mallard is confirmed breeding in a 10-km square but Mallard (domestic) is not.

During the breeding season there is unlikely to be a problem with Redpoll (Lesser/Common) as for most of us we are seeing Lesser Redpolls in the breeding season.

Hope you're finding the 'My Local Gaps' useful, it certainly helps target your local 10-km squares and it's really surprising what is missing sometimes!

Thanks
Dawn Balmer

 

[markgrubb]

I completed 3 second visits for tetrads all about 15 miles south of Edinburgh in the last few days. They were all in hilly farming/shooting country and between 800 and 1600 feet. the most noticeable thing was the complete absence of wrens in 2 of the tetrads. In the last atlas they were recorded in all tetrads in Lothian and the Borders. They seem to haver taken a real hammering this winter. A number of other local atlasers have noticed this as well. Is this the same in other parts of the country?

I managed 25, 41 and 43 species. Highlights were SEO's and black grouse in 2 tetrads, cuckoo and good numbers of upland birds such as common sandpiper, grey wagtail and dipper. Plenty of waders though a slog to the top of two 1500 foot hills failed to provide any golden plovers

 

[davercox]

I was away from May 4 to June 13 so only now catching up on my tetrads, really too late for much song, so let's hear it for the bunting family, two Yellows and three Cirls still giving it wellie yesterday. Corvids feeding fledglings pretty obvious now - Jackdaws, Rooks, Carrion Crows and Ravens all on view.
Just one tetrad left to do now, next week I hope.

 

[Surreybirder]

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 think it's probably post-breeding dispersal rather than true migration but 'S' seems inaccurate.
2) A reed warbler has been holding territory (song) for a couple of weeks at our local wildlife centre. Twice when I've been there has been a pair giving Agitated 'churr' sounds. Last time I went there were three of them calling. So I assume that the third was a juvenile though I didn't actually seen it. Am I OK to record this as 'FL'?

Ken

 

[joannec]

A reed warbler has been holding territory (song) for a couple of weeks at our local wildlife centre. Twice when I've been there has been a pair giving Agitated 'churr' sounds. Last time I went there were three of them calling. So I assume that the third was a juvenile though I didn't actually seen it. Am I OK to record this as 'FL'?

Ken

Our Sussex RO has said to be very careful with the FL code. It is my understanding that you have to observe young clearly dependent on the parents. If the parents sounded agitated, as you say, then I think I would enter A for agitated behaviour. Hopefully Dawn will clarify.

Hope you're feeling better soon, Ken.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Good to see this thread still ticking over a bit. I did a couple of tetrads yesterday, one in the Lune Valley and one Over Wyre. Some nice birds including Little Ringed Plover, Green Sandpiper, Reed Warbler, Tree Sparrow and Little Grebe. One was a new tetrad for me so I have now done TTVs in 73 squares.

Stephen

 

[Mary]

The main bird I wanted to get nesting evidence for this year was swift! There's plenty flying about, but I could never spot them going to their nest sites. So I went out round the town on my bike, morning and evening, standing around looking up at the sky and getting some very strange looks! I even resorted to appearing to be taking a call on my mobile to give me an excuse to stand in one place! Finally it paid off!

 

[Surreybirder]

Our Sussex RO has said to be very careful with the FL code. It is my understanding that you have to observe young clearly dependent on the parents. If the parents sounded agitated, as you say, then I think I would enter A for agitated behaviour. Hopefully Dawn will clarify.

Hope you're feeling better soon, Ken.

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

 

[Alan227]

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

Not wishing to berate the ill of course Ken , but I think that's why the BTO have developed the new codes. It forces folk to be more objective. The term 'Confirmed Breeding' can be somewhat subjective when used. The specific sub-codes make the observer be more objective by requiring confirmation of specific scenarios. I'm sure the BTO had novice recorders in mind when developing the system, but I believe that it does help to structure the observations of *all*.

Good wishes too of course!

Al

 

[Surreybirder]

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 breeding, so it's academic in that case. However, I've also downgraded a family of four lesser whitethroats that were in the same bush for several days to 'agitated behaviour' as I never actually saw the young being fed. In fact it was quite difficult to see the young at all, skulking in the middle of the bush!
Ken

 

[Alan227]

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 breeding, so it's academic in that case. However, I've also downgraded a family of four lesser whitethroats that were in the same bush for several days to 'agitated behaviour' as I never actually saw the young being fed. In fact it was quite difficult to see the young at all, skulking in the middle of the bush!
Ken

Re the swifts, our (Joanne and I that is) RO has a a pair nesting on her house. Apparently the adults are silent when visiting, but the numerous non-breeders are the ones that 'scream' around the property. They're probably family members and probably the result of previous breeding in that Tetrad, probably since 2008 too :>)...sooo not an unreasonable assumption on the part of your RO. Soon (now?) such parties will likely include FLings and clearly that's different.

Empathise with your L. Whi. obs. Many similar occurences with warblers this end too :>)

Al

 

[Dawn Balmer]

Sorry for the delay in replying.

M for the Little Egret sounds fine. M and U (summering) are new codes we introduced so we could record breeding season distributions. It is particularly enlightening for the large gulls summering inland, well away from breeding areas.

The FL for the Reed Warbler is based on rather weak evidence so I agree that reverting back to A is a safer option. FL is a difficult code to apply as you really need to be sure the birds have fledged from the tetrad/10-km square and not moved considerable distances.

We have a nice example locally (inland Suffolk) where a colour ring was read on a juvenile Black-headed Gull and it was ringed in Germany on 19th June 2010 - a movement of 530km to the west!

Hope your atlasing is going well. Can't believe there is only 10 days left of this season! Busy planning the winter fieldwork at the moment and working out how we're going to get all those tricky and un-populated (and unpopular!) areas covered.

Thanks for all your help,
Dawn

 

[joannec]

With the new Atlas year beginning tomorrow I thought I'd flag this:

http://www.e-dat.info/OSGridRef.aspx

It's a brilliant mapping site, brought to my attention by the Sussex RO. You can easily find which tetrad you want to record something in for roving records, very useful for 'Filling the Gaps', or grid ref for other recording. Looks like it will be really useful.

 

[Surreybirder]

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

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

With the new Atlas year beginning tomorrow I thought I'd flag this:

http://www.e-dat.info/OSGridRef.aspx

It's a brilliant mapping site, brought to my attention by the Sussex RO. You can easily find which tetrad you want to record something in for roving records, very useful for 'Filling the Gaps', or grid ref for other recording. Looks like it will be really useful.

Thanks Joanne. I think for the Atlas this will be really helpful.

Stephen

 

[deborah4]

Excellent mapping software. Will be very easy (and no excuse not to) for dumping all your bird lists straight onto BirdTrack where ever you are in the Country as well as for signed up Tetrads. I've already book marked tetrad/grid views of several of my regular patch areas around Sussex and Kent, including garden of course. For BirdTrack records out of county in more rural areas, I'd planned to buy a GPS to record refs on my notes in the field anyway for 'more interesting' sightings re: locations/species/time of year etc, but this does make it easier to do complete lists without having to write a grid ref down for everything you see while your birding.

I like the sound of the Arcpad software - when I get my ipad ...

 

[GiG]

With the new Atlas year beginning tomorrow I thought I'd flag this:

http://www.e-dat.info/OSGridRef.aspx

It's a brilliant mapping site, brought to my attention by the Sussex RO. You can easily find which tetrad you want to record something in for roving records, very useful for 'Filling the Gaps', or grid ref for other recording. Looks like it will be really useful.

Thanks for posting the link. Looks very interesting and useful.

Did a recce for my next two tetrads this weekend and whilst checking the atlas online later realised I'd not completed my roving records from my holiday in Wales in early summer - oops!

Gi

 

[markgrubb]

I use Where the Paths Fall Back for atlasing. It shows an OS map and Google mapping side by side. Really useful for planning routes for tetrads and for seeing exactly where boundaries are

 

[Dawn Balmer]

The start of the fourth and final winter today. Can't believe how fast time has gone! I'm looking forward to visiting my new tetrads this winter and also some day trips away to gather roving records in those 10-km squares that are still white, yellow or orange on the species richness maps http://blx1.bto.org/atlas-results/species-richness.html

If anyone needs advice on where to go or what to do then just drop a line here or direct at [email protected]

Happy atlasing!

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Started getting the current batch of TTVs in. Was pleased to see a Kingfisher in not very promising habitat on one, presumably a displaced youngster. It was also good to get Nuthatch and Treecreeper in another tetrad.