We could not move on to the National Atlas without saying a big thank you to all those members who have carried out the fieldwork and contributed records during this period for the Cheshire Atlas. Work is now well under way to produce the Atlas book and this will be available next year.
Bird Atlas 2007-11 is a huge and exciting project that will map the distribution and abundance of birds in Britain and Ireland during the breeding season and in the winter. It is being organised jointly by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), Scottish Ornithologists’ Club and BirdWatch Ireland. Fieldwork will start on 1st November 2007 and continue for four winters and four summers.
This is a huge project for the BTO and during this period they will not be carrying out any other major surveys, except for the Breeding Bird Survey which will be a valuable source of records. There are two components to the fieldwork: Timed Tetrad Visits (TTVs) and Roving Records.
TTVs involve two visits in the breeding season and two in the winter to a tetrad (2 km x 2 km square). Each visit is for a minimum of one hour, but preferably two, to record all species you see and hear along with the numbers, so that the BTO can calculate the relative abundance in the 10-km square. The aim is to cover a minimum of eight tetrads in each 10-km square but the more covered the better the results.
Roving Records are general birdwatching visits to 10-km squares, where the aim is to compile a list of every species you see and hear within that square. Records can come from various sources to suit the fieldworker e.g.
Ø A dedicated trip around a square looking for species
Ø A trip out birding perhaps through several 10-km squares
Ø Regular visits to a site
Ø One off casual records
Ø Any other reliable source.
The organisation of fieldwork is being done by the BTO and in our area it will be our local BTO Regional Rep, Charles Hull.
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