Tuesday 5 July 2011
BTO Atlas in Lincs - Number of species required to achieve 75% confirmed breeding
Many Atlas supporters have been hard at work since the breeding season commenced and the ttv coverage for the county is now virtually completed. The key task left is to confirm as many species breeding in each 10km square as possible.
So how are we doing in this respect in Lincs? Here is a graphic showing those square in yellow where we have yet to reach the 75% target for breeding species confirmed. The number in each square is the number of species that need to be confirmed to hit the 75% target. We are doing pretty well compared to adjacent counties and 36 of our 79 squares are already over 75%. A further 12 are within 5 species.
We are now getting down to the wire with only a few weeks left to confirm breeding. Please check out what species are missing in your local squares by clicking on "My local gaps" on the the BTO Atlas homepage and then chase down the missing species. Its great fun and will add an extra enjoyable dimension to your birding. There are still many unconfirmed common birds, particularly warblers and now is a great time to confirm most species. If you need any guidance on using the website and adding records please contact your BTO regional representative (http://btolincs.blogspot.com/).
Heres to some good birding and some excellent coverage for Lincs when the Atlas book is published in just udner 2 years time."
Monday 6 June 2011
Some tips on confirming breeding by birds of prey
In this last summer of the BTO Atlas, we are trying to confirm breeding by as many species as possible. The main atlas period ends on 31st July, but we can continue to confirm breeding into the autumn. This is especially relevant to birds of prey, several of which don't fledge until July or August.
The tips below for three species – all now widespread in the county – are based closely on guidance prepared by Rob Clements for
Common Buzzard
Confirming breeding for Common Buzzard is not difficult! These are large and noisy birds; the adults can be seen carrying food items back towards a nest-site through-out the day, and newly-fledged young are almost continuously noisy, plaintively calling for food from hedgerow trees and woodland edge. Look for areas of mixed woodland and farmland. Find a good viewpoint on a sunny morning in July or August. Scan the horizon for Buzzards, listen for their calls. If all the activity is distant, move nearer, preferably without disturbing the birds. Juvenile Buzzards are much whiter than adults, and lack the clearly defined dark terminal bands on tail and under-wings.
Sparrowhawk
Best looked for in July/August. Most blocks of mature conifers hold breeding Sparrow-hawk Walk around quietly, listening for young Sparrowhawks plaintive begging calls, or the chattering alarm calls from the adults. The successful nest is quite obvious, with thousands of white down feathers, all over the nest and surrounding branches. The woodland floor below is splattered with white droppings, as if some-one had been flicking white paint all around an area of 100 sq yds or more. Watching from a viewpoint, the adult Sparrowhawks can be seen approaching the wood carrying bird prey, often diving in from high up.
Hobby
Look for successful breeding Hobby in the period from 1st August to 20th September. Start off from a viewpoint giving a good view over an area of woodland edge and hedgerow trees. Choose sunny weather between 9.00am to 4.00pm. Look for family groups of Hobby hawking insects or chasing each other around in spectacular play. Closer up, you can hear a young Hobby keeping up almost continual calling, a higher pitched version of Peregrine begging calls. Juvenile Hobbies are easily identified, with buff edging to the feathering on the upper-parts and an absence of reddish "trousers." Adult Hobbies regularly visit the fledged juveniles, bringing bird prey and chasing off intruding Sparrowhawks and Crows. If you've not seen anything after an hours watching, move on and try somewhere else. Hobby nests are often approx. two miles apart in open farmland in southern
Thursday 14 April 2011
Time to start confirming the early birds
Friday 1 April 2011
North Lincs Summer Bird Race
To take part email donandchris@hotmail.co.uk to register the square of your choice go out for the day and record as many breeding
birds as possible enter your visit as Roving Records by Saturday 14th May.
Available squares: SE70, SE80, SE81, SE90, SE91, SK89, SK99, TA01, TA10. TA11, TA20, TA21, TA30, TA40, TF09, TF19, TF29, TF30, TF39, TF40
Do have a go and Good Luck
Monday 21 March 2011
Which are the most important breeding species in Lincs: Insights from BBS
The general UK trend of population change is also shown. It is possible that if we had a larger sample of BBS squares in Lincolnshire there could well be more rarer species on the list.
Thursday 10 March 2011
Some musings on "citizen science" and rarities
Monday 28 February 2011
Winter atlas: one race ends, another one begins
Monday 21 February 2011
The final week of the winter atlas
Last day next Monday and the clock is now ticking. I was out yesterday in Anderby/Hogsthorpe doing my last 2 winter ttvs. It was a grey day with a cold east wind and nothing startling to report. On the way back to Louth I called at Belleau Bridge and added Great Crested Grebe and Egyptian Goose for TF47. It was with great pleasure that I logged into the atlas website and looked at the UK richness gaps map to see that TF47 is now off the map and East Lincs is now clear.
We still have 51 ttvs to complete across Lincs so lets hope the weather holds up and everyone can get out and complete them by midnight on 28 Feb. The key ttvs are those needed to obtain minimum coverage in each 10 km square, there are only a handful and if anyone cannot complete them please let your RO know so that alternative coverage can be arranged.
Thanks to everyone for their efforts so far. Its interesting to see which squares have the most species richness so here are the top coastal and inland squares , purely for your interest.
Gib Point TF55 200
Donna Nook/Rimac TF49 165
Frampton TF33 149
Pyewipe/Killingholme TA21 144
Freiston TF44 143
Inland
Whisby Pits SK96 130
Covenham Reservoir TF39 130
Kirkby Pits TF26 120
I ought to add that the winter atlas hunt for records will continue after 28 February although this week is the last chance to get out and find missing birds; we'll continue encouraging birders to trawl their notebooks and any other sources we can think of to add missing species for at least the rest of this year. The cut off will come at the end of the year and the book should be out in just 2 years time.
Thursday 17 February 2011
Only 10 days left for winter atlasing
Thursday 20 January 2011
How many species are missing in each square?
Current Winter Atlas Progress
Saturday 15 January 2011
Winter Bird Race Winner
Altogether 106 records were added in 36 squares and commiserations to those who scored none at all or even only 1, like me!
The clear winner was Andrew Henderson who was way ahead of the rest of the field with 11 species added in the Brigg square TA00, ranging from Canada Goose to Med Gull. Andrew shrewdly selected a squares with one of the lowest species counts in the county and hit a range of habitats in it to maximise his chances.
Andrew will be presented with his prize, a pair of bins, at our conference at Whisby on April 16.
There are still over 500 missing species across Lincs and only 6 weeks to find them. We'll publish more details about where to look for them in the next week.
Wednesday 12 January 2011
Common Repolls
Tuesday 11 January 2011
Winter bird race: please get your data submitted
Early indications are that many missing species have been added and we will use the updated data to identify the squares in Lincs that need the most roving input in the final 5 or 6 weeks of the winter atlas.
The winner will be announced through here on 22 Jan and the prize of a pair of bins, generously donated by BTO will be awarded at our conference on 16 April.
Thursday 6 January 2011
Winter Bird Race this Friday, Saturday and Sunday
There was an interesting article on the UK winter atlas this week by Andy Musgrove of BTO on Birdguides http://www.birdguides.com/webzine/article.asp?a=2475. It shows a UK wide species richness map and unsurprisingly the best square in England is Titchwell, Norfolk with 207 species.
The Lincs coast comes out well and the best squares in Lincs so far is TF49 Donna Nook/Rimac with 160 species closely followed by TF55 Gibraltar Point with 147. The best inland square with 129 species is SK96 which covers SW Lincoln and Whisby Pits. SE92 Far Ings is the best square in Humberside (which includes Spurn Point) with 130 species and further up on the Yorkshire coast TA09 Filey Brig has 164 species.
Good luck in getting out and finding those missing birds.
Phil