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2007-11 Bird Atlas – Methods

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(information as at 13th December 2006)

 

The national Atlas Working Group, and locally the HOS Atlas Steering Group, have now agreed the basics for the Atlas field methodology. The approach gives broadly similar methods in summer and winter and has a good balance of methods for different levels of involvement and skill. There are still some important areas of development but below are some of the key points, beginning with a reminder of what the Atlas aims to do and what the fieldwork aims to provide.

 

Aims of the HOS Atlas project

  • To produce dot distribution maps showing in which tetrads (2-km squares) each species winters or breeds. (10-km squares for the national project)

  • To produce maps showing broad patterns across Hampshire of relative abundance during winter and the breeding season. (Britain & Ireland nationally)

  • To measure changes in distribution and abundance patterns since earlier Atlases.

 

To fulfil these aims, Atlas fieldwork in Hampshire must provide:

  • A complete species list for each tetrad in winter and breeding season.

  • A measure of (relative) abundance for each species in each tetrad in winter and summer.

 

Seasons

Winter = beginning of November to end of February; four winters, 2007/08 to 2010/11.

Breeding Season = beginning of April to end of July; four seasons, 2008 to 2011.

 

General principles for both seasons

  • Fieldwork will comprise ‘Roving Visits’ and ‘Timed Tetrad Visits’ – the two together providing the total species list and evidence of breeding, and the latter providing the essential abundance data.

  • Both types of visits are equally important, but in Hampshire we will concentrate initially on the ‘Timed Tetrad Visits’ as the minimum level of coverage for each and every tetrad.

  • Roving Visits will be free-format – simply providing records of species with the aim of amassing comprehensive species lists for each tetrad (or 10-km square nationally).   Such records might be a result of a day’s birding through a number of tetrads, or perhaps dedicated searches of the habitat in one or two tetrads for hitherto missed species.

  • Timed Tetrad Visits are more structured:

    • Each Timed Tetrad Visit in Hampshire will be for two hours, during which individuals of each species seen and heard will be counted. Observers can of course continue after the two hours on a Roving Visit basis, to search for species not already encountered or to seek further evidence of breeding.

    • In a season (winter or summer) there will be two such visits, one early and one late. For winter this means one visit in Nov-Dec and one in Jan-Feb. For the breeding season this means one in Apr-May and one in Jun-Jul. A tetrad need only be surveyed in one summer and one winter.

    • The aim will be for all of Hampshire’s 1000+ tetrads to receive Timed Tetrad Visits..

 

Evidence of breeding

The 3-level system for evidence of breeding will be used (e.g. singing; bird with food; nest with eggs). This information will be sought from Timed Tetrad Visits and Roving Records. Evidence of breeding is also being built into BirdTrack as an optional field to facilitate further data capture.

 

Tetrad-scale population estimates

Details are still to be finalised, but it’s likely that observers will also be asked to provide a rough estimate (possibly in a category of abundance) of the tetrad’s population of each species they encountered during their timed visit. This will be easier for some species and some tetrads than for others. For instance, an observer visiting a tetrad that has only one lake, may easily be able to give an estimate of the Coot population in that tetrad. But estimating the number of Skylarks in a tetrad might require some judgement (e.g. I saw 15 skylarks during my visit, and maybe covered a quarter of the tetrad, so I reckon there are around 60). Further guidance and full instructions will be provided.

 

Next steps

Now that the broad shape of the field methods are fixed, BTO staff are working on draft instructions and forms, and on the development of online systems. We are anticipating that in Hampshire we will be able to use the national recording forms, and the national instructions with minimal modification (possibly just an addendum note).  We also expect to use the national online systems and applications that will be used by organisers and observers to input and manage their data.

Meanwhile, we’re also busy organising coverage for the Timed Tetrad Visits. Please take a look at the “How can I help” section of the Atlas information on this website.

  Chairman, HOS Scientific Committee & Atlas Steering Group



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