–
Winter atlas
starting in November 2007
–
Breeding atlas
starting in April 2008
The last Atlas Survey in Hampshire was undertaken during 1986-91.
The aim of that survey was to map the distribution of all
Hampshire’s breeding birds on a tetrad basis (2 x 2km grid), and to
update the information provided by the 1968-72 national Atlas of
Breeding Birds (10 x 10km basis). The survey was intentionally
carried out alongside the national New Breeding Atlas survey
of 1988-91, and no attempt was made to map relative abundance, or to
survey distributions outside the breeding season. Results of the
survey were incorporated in the Birds of Hampshire book
published by HOS in 1993. At that time, we had in mind that a
Hampshire survey of breeding bird distribution should probably be
repeated every 20 years or so, so the next survey will soon be upon
us.
During the past year or so, ideas for the Next National
Atlas have begun to take shape, and we’re fortunate that the HOS
chairman, John Eyre, is chairing the BTO’s National Atlas Working
Group.
We, therefore, now have firmer ideas of
what we might actually do in Hampshire and when. Here is a very
brief summary of the main points in current thinking for the HOS
project:
HOS plans to run a
Hampshire tetrad distribution survey during exactly the same
period as the national atlas survey and as far as possible using
the same methods, instructions, and forms.
We will do both
winter and breeding surveys, each running for four years.
The winter survey
will run for the four winters 2007/08 through to 2010/11, and
the breeding survey for the fours seasons 2008 to 2011.
In Hampshire, we
will aim to cover ALL tetrads for ALL species in both winter and
breeding surveys. (The national survey will be 10-km based, and
only involve a sample of at least eight tetrads in
each 10-km square.)
This time, in
common with the national survey, we want to be able to map
relative abundance, and we’re therefore planning on timed counts
in addition to simple presence/absence.
In Hampshire, the
absolute minimum coverage for each tetrad will be 2 x
2hour counts in the breeding season, and 2 x 2hour counts in
winter, in just one year for any particular tetrad.
The aim will be to
publish the final results as a revised county avifauna book (and
quite likely on other media) in say 2013 at the earliest.
