Bird Atlas 2007-11

 Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a huge and exciting project that will map the abundance and distribution of birds throughout Britain and Ireland during the breeding season and winter.  It is being promoted as a partnership between BTO, Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and BirdWatch Ireland and has the support and co-operation of Cumbria Bird Club.

 There have been two previous Britain and Ireland breeding atlases (1968-72 and 1988-91) and, more recently, Cumbria Bird Club’s own breeding atlas for 1997-2001. It will be fascinating to see the changes between these previous breeding atlases. 

 There has been just one previous winter atlas for Britain and Ireland (1981-84) and no attempt to map the distribution and abundance of our winter birds within Cumbria.  Given it is over 25 years since the last Winter Atlas, we can expect to see some significant changes in the distribution of birds in this season.                                                                    

The previous atlases have provided vital information for bird conservation, both nationally and locally. One of the important findings from the last Britain and Ireland breeding atlas in the late 1980s was the widespread range contraction of many of our farmland birds. This led to detailed research into the causes of these declines. Will the results from Bird Atlas 2007-11 show similar fate for some woodland bird species? Will the conservation efforts for farmland birds have made a difference? One thing is for sure: the results from this atlas will be the basis for the conservation of birds in Britain and Ireland for the coming decades.   

Here in Cumbria, we have already assisted in the formulation of the atlas fieldwork methodology through participating in a pilot survey during the winter of 2005-06 and through ongoing discussions with the national atlas organisers at BTO. We are now preparing to take our support a step further, in that Cumbria is one of over 20 counties that are aiming to achieve 100% coverage of all tetrads within their areas, both winter and breeding season, over the four years of 2007-11 Atlas fieldwork. We are also aiming to devote a full two hours to each tetrad visit (rather than the minimum of one hour) thereby enabling us to make direct comparisons between the results of the previous breeding atlas for Cumbria and this latest project.

 Rather than producing a new county atlas, the Steering Committee for Cumbria proposes to use the results of the 2007-11 fieldwork, along with the large amount of archive material that the Bird Club has amassed over the years, to produce the first comprehensive county avifauna “The Birds of Cumbria” since the Rev. H. A. Macpherson’s “A Vertebrate Fauna of Lakeland” was published way back in 1892!

 In order to make both the Britain and Ireland Atlas and the county avifauna for Cumbria a success, we will need all your records – whatever you see, whenever, wherever! 

 There are two components to the fieldwork:

bulletTimed Tetrad Visits (TTVs) involve visits to every tetrad (2 km x 2 km square) in the county: two visits in one of the four breeding seasons and two visits in one of the four winters, with each visit being for two hours (a minimum of one hour in some other counties). Observers are asked to record every species seen and heard during this 2 hour period along with numbers, so that the information can be used to help map the distribution and also to calculate the relative abundance of species at both the 10km square level (for the purposes of the Britain and Ireland Atlas) and at the tetrad level (for the purposes of the county avifauna). We are looking to allocate tetrads, either singly or as a block, to keen birders who are willing to get involved in this part of the survey work. For details of what tetrads are available log on to www.birdatlas.net or contact one of the local atlas organisers (details below).
bulletRoving Recorder records (supplementary records in the previous Cumbria Tetrad Atlas) are required to help compile a more comprehensive species list for every tetrad than would be possible from TTV’s alone. From 1st November this year, everyone can make a real contribution to both the Atlas and the county avifauna, by making a note of every species you see along with a note of the tetrad you are in, and then entering the records online at www.birdatlas.net or filling out a ‘Roving Recorder’ form (available from local atlas organisers or from BTO HQ). 

 Contacts:

 Dawn Balmer, Atlas Co-ordinator, BTO, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU. Email: dawn.balmer@bto.org

 Clive Hartley, Regional Organiser for Cumbria and Local Organiser for Southeast Cumbria, Undercragg, Charney Well Lane, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria LA11 6DB. Email: clive.hartley@tiscali.co.uk 

Colin Gay, Local Organiser for Southwest Cumbria, 8 Victoria Street, Millom, Cumbria LA18 5AS. Email: colinathodbarrow@aol.com

 Dave Piercy, Local Organiser for Northwest  Cumbria, Derwentwater Youth Hostel, Borrowdale, Keswick, CA12 5UR. Email: daveandkathypiercy@tiscali.co.uk

 Stephen Westerberg, Local Organiser for Northeast Cumbria, 8 Beckside Gardens, Brampton, CA8 1US. Email:  Stephen.westerberg@rspb.org.uk