Dear Atlas volunteer

We are now a few days into the fourth and final winter of fieldwork for the Bird Atlas. Already 214 Timed Tetrad Visits and over 6000 Roving Records have been submitted online despite the wet and windy weather moving across Britain and Ireland. We hope you are full of enthusiasm to get out there and fill in gaps in timed counts and species lists. We are in a terrific position as we enter the final year and now just need one last push to complete coverage across the whole of Britain and Ireland.

First priority
So that we know exactly what remains to be done, as soon as possible, please submit any completed TTVs and Roving Records you have, and if you have TTVs allocated but fear you will not be able to complete them this winter, please let your RO know immediately.

You can help by:
- completing all tetrads allocated to you. If you can’t manage them please contact your Regional Organiser as soon as possible;
- take on new tetrads to ensure the minimum of eight tetrads are completed in every 10-km square. Early winter TTVs should be competed by the end of December. Input your records promptly after your visit so we can assess coverage through the winter and respond to any gaps;
- fill in gaps in species lists. We need comprehensive species lists in every 10-km square. The species richness map will help you highlight priority areas http://blx1.bto.org/atlas-results/species-richness.html.

Tools to help you
There are a number of tools online which will help you with your atlas work and to make the most of your time in the field.

Priority Squares
Select the 10-km square you are atlasing in and you will be shown a list of species recorded in the surrounding 10-km squares but not in your selected square. This will help you to think about species that you might be missing in your square. After logging in at www.birdatlas.net click on the Priority Squares button in Data Home.

Regional results
Select your region from the drop-down menu and look at the wide range of maps. The species richness map shows the squares that still need help – look for squares coloured white, yellow and orange. It’s really useful to apply the ‘Actual species richness’ button to show the number of species recorded; although the square may be coloured red there could well be more species to find. This is certainly the case in Ireland and parts of Scotland where coverage in the last Winter Atlas was limited.

Click on the ‘Tetrads surveyed for TTVs’ and you will see the number of tetrads already surveyed for winter. Consider taking on tetrads in 10-km squares where fewer than eight tetrads have been completed.

You can access the ‘Regional Results’ from the ‘Latest Results’ menu on the atlas homepage or using the link http://www.bto.org/birdatlas/latest_results/regionalresultsnav.htm

Any Square Summary
See the list of species recorded in any 10-km square or tetrad. Access from Data Home.

A reminder why we are doing all this
With such a head long rush to get all these species lists and TTVs completed its easy to forget why we are doing this. Of course, the Atlas book will be a landmark publication that you can rightly say you had a hand in. But the Atlas is more than a book, and already we have used provisional atlas results to identify species that need dedicated research and conservation action. So please help in these last months of the Atlas to make this the most thorough and complete Atlas yet.

Thank you for all your help so far. We hope you have a great winter atlasing and see plenty of good birds.

With kind regards

Dawn Balmer (Atlas Coordinator)
Bob Swann (Scottish Organiser)
Brian Caffrey (Irish Organiser)
Simon Gillings (Atlas Development)