The BTO magazine for volunteers
Volunteer
Issue 6
2017
70 years of UK waterbird monitoring
TEN THINGS YOU CAN DO Small ways to make a difference in 2017
Volunteer 2017
Welcome Welcome to our magazine for everyone who volunteers or wants to learn about volunteering for birds with us, the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). We started in 1933 as a tiny group of keen ornithologists who saw the potential benefits of encouraging amateur birdwatchers to join in with organised surveys. The best part of a century later we are still here, working with volunteers to monitor the changing fortunes of our wild birds in gardens, the wider countryside, our wetlands and waterways, the uplands and wherever else they appear. Thanks to the contributions of our amazing volunteers, these surveys and schemes, which sprang from such humble beginnings, have become the envy of biological recording organisations around the world. Our mission is to use the data we collect not to campaign, but to inspire people about the wonder of birds, to extend our scientific understanding of their lives and to provide the impartial evidence to inform decisions that may affect their future. Volunteer contributions to our work come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, from providing photographs for our image library to scaling towering sea cliffs in order to ring birds and monitor
2017 | Issue 6 BTO The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU Telephone: 01842 750050 Web: www.bto.org E-mail: btonews@bto.org Twitter: @_BTO Facebook: BTO British Trust for Ornithology BTO Scotland, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Cottrell Building, University of Stirling FK9 4LA Telephone: 01786 466560 E-mail: scot.info@bto.org Twitter: @BTO_Scotland BTO Cymru, Thoday Building, Deiniol Road, Bangor, Gwynedd LL57 2UW Telephone: 01248 383285 E-mail: kelvin.jones@bto.org Twitter: @BTO_Cymru
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BTO Northern Ireland, 25 Ballyholme Esplanade, Bangor, Co Down BT20 5LZ Telephone: 07831 697371 E-mail: shane.wolsey@bto.org Patron: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, KG, KT President: Chris Packham Chairman: Jenny Gill Honorary Secretary: Frances Hurst Honorary Treasurer: Ian Packer The BTO promotes and encourages the wider understanding, study, appreciation and conservation of birds. Registered Charity no. 216652 (England & Wales) no. SC039193 (Scotland).
BTO Volunteer Production Editor: Ieuan Evans and Viola Ross-Smith Art editor: Tina Smith Printing: Reflex Litho, St Helen’s Way, Thetford, IP24 1HG
their nests. The majority of our volunteers contribute in a more routine way, by recording the birds in their garden through our Garden BirdWatch scheme, by monitoring the activity in their nest boxes or by contributing to one of our annual surveys like the Breeding Bird Survey. We are supported in each region by our brilliant volunteer Regional Representatives. The BTO would be nothing without its volunteers so we are grateful for every single contribution we receive, however large or small. I hope that the articles in this year’s magazine will inspire you to spend more time with our feathered friends and to think more about their lives. In addition to features about some of the surveys and schemes you can take part in, we have included a number of articles aimed at sharing our experiences of how to get the best from your birdwatching. Don’t forget that our website has details of all our training courses and more than 65 video tutorials to help you with tricky bird ID. Most importantly please remember that we are always keen to hear your news and views by email, post, phone and social media. I hope you enjoy the magazine and I wish you happy birding!
Ieuan Evans, Associate Director of Communications
The views expressed by the contributors to this magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor, the Council of the BTO or its committees. The Editor welcomes any feedback on articles.
2017 BTO membership
© BTO 2017. Quotations should carry a full acknowledgement.
Life
JNCC – the Joint Nature Conservation Committee is the statutory advisor to Government on UK and international nature conservation, on behalf of the Council for Nature Conservation and Countryside, Natural England, Natural Resources Wales and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Benefactor
BBS – the Breeding Bird Survey is the main scheme for monitoring the population changes of the UK’s widespread breeding birds, organised by the BTO and funded by the BTO, JNCC and RSPB.
Individual
£36
Family
£46
Young birder
£12
Fellow
£900 £58 £120
u Monthly membership subscriptions available. u Fellows receive Bird Study journal. u Concession rates are available for students and pensioners.
WeBS – the Wetland Bird Survey monitors non-breeding waterbirds in the UK. It is a partnership between the BTO, RSPB and JNCC in association with the WWT.
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Contents
COVER SPOONBILL & MAN: ALAMY X2, THIS PAGE MAN: ALAMY, KINGFISHER: SARAH KELMAN/BTO, SWIFT: JOHN W WALTON/BTO, LITTLE OWL: AUSTIN THOMAS/BTO
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Contents 2 4 8 10
Editorial Ieuan Evans on volunteer effort great and small.
News How volunteers collecting data has made a difference.
Early birds Get up early to make the most of your volunteering. Birding to a slower beat Why it's good to go slow.
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12 14 16 18
A tale of two warblers Blackcap and Garden Warbler. House Martin survey Take part in our 2017 Nest Survey.
EBBA Contribute to the biggest bird project in Europe. Woodcock survey Help us monitor this elusive wader.
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Best kept secret Now is the time to join the BTO. 70 years of WeBS Why you too should take part. Training courses Ways to improve your skills. Ten things What you can do now to make a difference. 3
News round-up 2017 Survey tetrads for BWEUF (red – site covered, blue – site not covered)
t Significant numbers of breeding Lapwing (left) and Snipe (below) were recorded in this survey. WADER SURVEY
Breeding Waders of English Upland Farmland This survey was targeted at better understanding the breeding wader population on upland farmland in England, known as ‘in-bye’ land. As highlighted recently many wader species, including the focal Curlew, Lapwing, Redshank and Snipe, are in decline and conservation action is urgently required to attempt to halt or reverse the situation. The in-bye habitat has been little studied, but there are indications that it supports substantial numbers of breeding waders. In addition, much of the farmed land is under agri-environment management, so there is considerable potential for improving the prospects for breeding waders. 4
In 2016, a total of 522 survey tetrads containing upland farmland were covered, from Cornwall to Northumbria (see map). Some impressive counts of breeding pairs were recorded (see table) with population estimates representing over 50% of the national population for Curlew, Lapwing and Snipe. Apart from Oystercatcher, in-bye wader numbers have fallen since the 1980s, however there is evidence that conservation action via agri-environment schemes may be having some positive effects. The survey was a great achievement considering the remote nature and difficulty in accessing many of the sites, not to mention the area
covered and volume of data collected. A paper is planned and a more detailed summary will be available at www.bto.org/bweuf. We are extremely grateful to all the volunteers, RSPB and Natural England staff who contributed to the survey, as well as landowners for allowing access.
Summary of total adults and breeding pairs counted in 2016 from 522 tetrads Species Curlew Lapwing Oystercatcher Redshank Snipe
Tetrads occupied 427 375 306 141 246
Total adults 7,393 17,583 3,919 1,104 1,673
Total pairs 3,211 6,874 1,621 579 1,303
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LAPWING: SARAH KELMAN/BTO, SNIPE: NIGEL CLARK/BTO, BLACK-HEADED GULL: NIGEL CLARK/BTO, WINDOW SCENE: ALAMY
News round-up
GARDEN BIRDS
Did you know?
GBW annual results
BURROWING DOVES There was once up to 62 pairs of Stock Doves breeding in burrows on Skokholm Island in west Wales. This amazing fact is rivalled by the news that Bardsey Island once had 40 pairs of Jackdaws breeding in burrows in the Manx Shearwater colony! Do you know of any other unusual burrow-inhabiting birds?
The weekly records from BTO’s Garden BirdWatch allow us to track the yearly peaks and troughs of garden wildlife, and the annual results showed a mixed picture in 2016. The year started well, with a lot of bird activity and good peak of Siskins, reported in 27% of gardens in March. The preceding mild winter is likely to have helped over-winter survival, and high numbers of Wrens, Goldcrests and Coal Tits were seen in gardens early in the year. Rain during spring meant a poor breeding season for Blue and Great Tits, and both were low for the rest of the year, and Greenfinches continued their
GULL UPS AND DOWNS Until the 1940s, Black-headed Gull breeding colonies were commercially exploited for eggs and birds. This was a large industry, with nearly 300,000 eggs per year sold at Leadenhall Market in London during the 1930s. Once a rare breeder in the UK, a dramatic population increase through the 20th Century saw the breeding population rise to well in excess of 100,000 breeding pairs. More recently, the species has been Amber Listed because of the recent decline in the size of the non-breeding population and the importance of Britain and Ireland during the winter months.
decline, dropping below one bird per garden on average for the first time in October. The winter brought unexpected treats for Garden BirdWatchers in the form of Waxwings, which increased by 442% on 2015! Good numbers of Song and Mistle Thrushes were also reported, and they were joined as always by Blackbirds, which topped the tables in 2016, being reported in 90% of gardens throughout the year. We are always delighted to have more people contributing to Garden BirdWatch. To find out how you too can join the 7,000 volunteers regularly taking part visit www.bto.org/gbw.
BAT MONITORING
Bats and urban development EGGS-ACTLY ENOUGH CALCIUM An average clutch of Blue Tit eggs contains approximately 0.5 g of calcium, which might not sound like much; but consider this... A whole Blue Tit skeleton contains only around 0.6 g of calcium so this represents a significant investment for the female and it is likely that she will need to source this from the environment, presumably in the form of fragments of snail shell and other calcium-rich materials.
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Since 2013, the BTO-led Norfolk Bat Survey has engaged more than 1,000 volunteers, who have collected over a million recordings of bats using passive detectors borrowed from local 'bat monitoring centres'. In the latest published research based on these data, BTO scientists examined the distribution and activity (as a measure of abundance) of Norfolk's bats alongside new housing planned for the next 10
years. At the local level the impact of housing is likely to be severe. At a county level, the range and abundance of 12 bat species would decrease by 1‒2% under current plans. The work also highlighted how new housing could be targeted to areas least preferred by bats. To become a volunteer for the Norfolk Bat Survey, or for one of its sister schemes elsewhere in the country coordinated by the BTO, please visit www.batsurvey.org. 5
t Dipper are monitored by volunteers taking part in the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey.
News in brief BIRDS HELP BEAT THE BLUES New research led by the University of Exeter, in collaboration with the BTO, has found that watching birds near your home could be good for mental health. People living in neighbourhoods where there were more birds reported lower levels of stress, anxiety and depression.
BIRD MONITORING
New report on UK's birds The State of the UK’s Birds (SUKB) is an annual report acting as a one-stop-shop to give an overview of bird populations in the UK and its Overseas Territories. The most recent SUKB was released in April 2017, and included trends for as many of the UK’s regularly occurring species as possible, based on the records contributed by thousands of dedicated volunteers. Surveys highlighted range from the Breeding Bird Survey, with over 2,600 volunteers gathering data to generate annual population trends of 111 species, to the Waterways Breeding Bird Survey, with 258 volunteers
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monitoring species such as Common Sandpiper and Dipper, and covering almost 300 sites annually. The latest SUKB includes the most recent assessment of the status of the UK’s breeding and non-breeding birds, as listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 4, published in December 2015. Species were placed on either the Green, Amber or Red Lists, indicating increasing levels of conservation concern. More than a quarter of the UK’s bird species are now on the Red List, which has increased by 15 species from all habitats including farmland, woodland, coast and the uplands. One newly-added upland species is Curlew, which declined by 64% from 1970 to 2014. We have successfully raised funds and are now undertaking research to help reverse the Curlew's fortunes. SUKB is produced by the RSPB, BTO and the WWT, and the UK Government’s statutory nature conservation agencies – Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Natural England (NE), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and the JNCC. Visit www.bto.org/sukb for more information and to download the most recent and previous reports.
NEW BIRDTRACK FEATURES If you haven’t logged in for a while or are yet to discover BirdTrack, now is a great time to do so. We've introduced several new features for visualising your data. Our notable observations feed now allows you to search unusual records. There are also new graphing tools for viewing your species list during the year, your totals for each year and your top months for recording.
p www.birdtrack.net
LONG DISTANCE ROBIN Sandwich Bay Bird Observatory in Kent has played host to some amazing birds since being founded in 1952. One bird that will go down in its record books is a Robin caught there in October 2016. It had been ringed at Kovda, Murmansk Oblast, in Russia 1,528 miles away! For more stories like this, visit btoringing.blogspot.co.uk.
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News round-up
CUCKOO TRACKING
u We hope to fit tags weighing just 2 g to Cuckoos this year.
Still lots to learn
DIPPER: JOHN HARDING/BTO, BIRDWATCHER: DAVID TIPLING/BTO, CUCKOO: SARAH KELMAN/BTO, LONG-EARED OWL: EDMUND FELLOWES/BTO
Since the start of our ground-breaking project in 2011 to satellite-track Cuckoos, we have uncovered their wintering grounds in central Africa, the routes they take to and from these areas and the numerous stop-over sites they use along the way. In an exciting new development for the project, we hope this spring to fit a new generation of tags to a small number of Cuckoos. Further miniaturisation of the component parts has enabled the production of new satellite tags which weigh just 2 g – less than a new 5 pence piece! Using these tags we will be able to add to our accumulated knowledge of the migratory behaviour of male Cuckoos; we also hope to track some female Cuckoos for the first time through their entire annual cycle. Maps showing the locations of our tagged birds are updated daily on our website, where you can also follow and support the project. Please visit www.bto.org/cuckoos. NEST RECORDING
Look who's nesting? A new feature on the BTO website enables users to find out how many nests have been monitored in each region and of which species, and it makes for fascinating reading. You may be surprised to learn that in the UK as a whole in 2015, the five most commonly monitored nests belonged to Blue Tit, Great Tit, Swallow, Tree Sparrow and Barn Owl. We received more Reed Warbler nest records (756) than Robin (620). Almost twice as many Goshawk nest records were submitted (161) as Mistle Thrush (88). One common species for which we receive very few nest records is the Jay. In 2015 only 12 nest records were submitted for Jay – the same as for Common Crossbill and Golden Plover. Only 32 Cuckoos made it into our database for 2015, while 35 Long-eared Owl nests were monitored. In some regions, we receive very few nest records for common species, like Dunnock. In 2015 only three Dunnock nest records were received for Gloucestershire, one for Dorset and Gwynedd, four for Lothian and 14 for Northern Ireland. This information shows that individual volunteers can make a significant contribution to our knowledge by monitoring common species, like Dunnock. If you’ve spotted a nest that you could monitor, you can find out how to contribute to the Nest Record Scheme by visiting www.bto.org/nrs. u 35 Long-eared Owl nests were monitored for the Nest Record Scheme in 2015.
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p Separating the elusive Goshawk from the more commonly-seen Sparrowhawk. FIELD SKILLS
Even more help with bird ID We have continued to add more videos to the growing list of bird ID tutorials which are freely available on our YouTube channel. We now have more than 65 videos covering a wide range of species, most often tackling two or more confusion species together. Our most viewed video explains how to distinguish Song Thrush and Mistle Thrush, while the second most popular video takes on the tricky task of identifying those birds which sing
at night, including the beautiful Nightingale. Other popular videos cover separating the elusive Goshawk from the more commonlyseen Sparrowhawk, telling the tiny Goldcrest from its Firecrest cousin and confidently distinguishing the large waders, Curlew and Whimbrel. We hope you find these videos useful. Do get in touch if there are any species you’d particularly like us to cover in future. www.youtube. com/BTOvideo 7
Early birds Our Media Manager Paul Stancliffe has been obsessed with birds for as long as he can remember. He spent seven happy years as the bird recorder for the Isles of Scilly and is the author of our identification guide books to common and rare birds. Here he shares some of his top tips for getting the most out of your birdwatching.
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etting out early in the morning in the spring is a must. The dawn chorus peaks around sunrise and then quickly falls away and is often pretty much over within an hour or two of first light. Sound carries further in the cool, thin air of dawn making anything you encounter easier to hear. Different species of bird begin singing at different times, adding their voices to the chorus as the morning progresses. At its climax, the rich mĂŞlĂŠe of the full dawn chorus is magnificant but perhaps
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overwhelming to the birdsong novice. Getting up an hour or so before dawn instead is a great time to get to grips with the songs of different species. This means being at your chosen location very early indeed; in May this could be before 3.30am, which sounds tough but is a wonderful time to be out and about, and well worth the effort. NIGHT GIVES WAY TO DAY In woodland, the calls of Tawny Owls signing off at the end of the night shift are joined by Blackbirds, invariably the first song of the day. The beautiful melancholy rich fluty notes of the Blackbird are often followed shortly after by the loud staccato, repeated phrases of its close cousin the Song Thrush. These two are easily separated by song; Blackbird song can last for long periods, seemingly without pause for breath, whilst Song Thrush sing in short phrases of three, four or more notes that are repeated at intervals, with short gaps between each phrase. Early in the year, the only warbler that is likely to be encountered in woodland is the Chiffchaff. This small bird helpfully sings its name, and can be Volunteer | 2017
Early birds
t Reedbeds come alive with the rhythmic tones of the Reed Warbler each spring.
Warbler can be heard over southern heathlands, whilst the more widespread Cetti’s Warbler likes wetland reedbeds as far north as the Humber. Spring is a great time to see and hear both of these generally elusive birds. WELCOMING OUR SUMMER MIGRANTS Like most birdwatchers I am out and about in search of summer migrants in earnest from mid-March onwards, but more often than not I don’t see my first long-distance migrant – those species that spend the winter months south of the Sahara Desert – until the first week in April. My first encounter is usually a
REED WARBLER: PAUL STERRY/NATURE PHOTOGRAPHERS LTD, MAN: ALAMY
The hour or so around dawn is a great time to get to grips with the songs of different species
▲ Sunrise is a magical time to appreciate the majesty of the dawn chorus.
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surprisingly easy to observe before the trees spring into leaf. It is worth familiarising yourself with Chiffchaff before it is joined by the very similar Willow Warbler later in the spring. Take time to look for the Chiffchaff's dark legs (pale pink/straw coloured in Willow Warbler), the short wings (long in Willow Warbler) and the fairly weak face pattern (strong in Willow Warbler). If you get to know Chiffchaff well, the first Willow Warbler of the spring should be fairly easy to pick out even without hearing its sweet, cascading song. Woodland isn’t the only habitat worth a visit before summer takes hold; the scratchy song of the Dartford
Wheatear, and normally somewhere on the coast but just occasionally it has been Sand Martin, Swallow or Willow Warbler on my inland local patch, so the coast doesn’t always win. By mid-April most of our winter visitors are gone and the flood-gates open for the arrival of our summer visitors. For me this is one of the most exciting times of the year and a great moment to get out and refresh your memory of those identification features that you nailed last year. For many of us, a revision session focusing on the easilyconfused songs of Reed Warbler and Sedge Warbler is a good place to start. Listen out for the steady rhythmic tones of the Reed Warbler, compared to the syncopated, erratic medodies of the Sedge Warbler. There is so much to gain from an early start throughout the year that it's well worth the pain of the early alarm call. That precious hour of tranquility as the dawn chorus tunes up provides the perfect, gentle start to any day. The dawn chorus, whether in woodland, heathland or reedbed is one of nature's finest phenomena. If you only do one thing this year, set your alarm clock early and head out to hear our birds at their best. You won't regret it!
Find out more
Use our online video series to improve your birdsong identification skills via www.bto.org/bird-id. Listen to birdsongs from a huge range of species and locations at www.xeno-canto.org. 9
Birding to a slower beat ‘What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare?’ But what if we do make time to ‘stand beneath the boughs and stare as long as sheep or cows’? What do we stand to gain, and how can it be helpful? Ben Darvill takes a look.
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e live in a fast-paced world. Stress, anxiety and depression are rife, and while the healing benefits of time in nature are increasingly recognised, birdwatching can take many forms – some more relaxing than others. What kind of bird-watcher are you? What makes a good day or a bad one? Reflecting on my own experiences, it strikes me how many of the highlights have come in moments of calm, when I’ve slowed right down. Should that come as any surprise? When we march through the countryside, we disturb it. Birds stop what they are doing and alarm-call, deer bark and bound away. We diminish our own senses too, with our noise and movement. We are there, but are we really connected? The angler, sitting quietly beside the river, sees the Kingfisher perch, catch a minnow and then swallow it whole. He sees a Wren collect insects, flit to its riverbank nest, and then emerge for another load. He sees the Otter when it silently passes, with a glimpse, a ripple, and a sparkling trail of bubbles. In intimate moments such as these we feel truly connected with nature, and with the place. These moments live long in our memories and really make our hearts sing. Through these closer connections we can also better understand what is going on – hugely rewarding, but 10
also useful. I wonder if I can persuade you to go slow this breeding season? Join me on an imaginary walk… We’re on a lowland farm, approaching a bramble patch, when a Whitethroat appears. What does our sighting tell us, and what more could we learn? Not much, if we march on by. But what if we linger, watch and listen? Wouldn’t it be interesting to discover if our bird is breeding or just passing through? It’s in suitable habitat so that’s a good sign, especially if it starts to sing, but these signs only point to possible breeding. Let’s watch for a while and tune in… He’s seen us and his harsh churring alarm call is actually a good sign, suggesting he might have a nest nearby. We move back a bit and before long he starts to sing. Wait, what was that?! Yes – a female has appeared, so we have a pair! With the evidence stacking up, this is now probable breeding. We leave them in peace but resolve to return. TAKING TIME TO TRULY SEE If you enjoy gardening then you’ll appreciate the simple pleasures to be had from noticing change. It’s the same garden every day, but every day it’s different: bulbs emerge, flowers open, fruits ripen. Other changes are slow, but are likewise rewarding
u Witness special moments, like a Kingfisher snatching a fish, when you take it slow.
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Birding to a slower beat
In intimate moments such as these we feel truly connected with nature, and with the place
Making the most of your sightings
p Watch individual birds, like this Whitethroat, to discover their secrets.
MAN: DAVID TIPLING/BTO, WHITETHROAT: MOSS TAYLOR/BTO, KINGFISHER: SARAH KELMAN/BTO
Intimate experiences with breeding birds can be hugely enjoyable. You can make your sightings useful, too, by noting down a few simple details. BirdTrack, with breeding evidence. As well as species, time and place, note down the ‘highest’ form of breeding evidence observed. Log your sightings in BirdTrack and click to access the additional breeding evidence menus. People compiling bird reports, site-based assessments or atlases such as EBBA2 (see pages 16–17) will all find this information useful. Visit www.birdtrack.net to get started. The Nest Record Scheme If you’re fortunate enough to find a nest you can collect a treasure-trove of useful information. BTO’s scientists can study changes in laying-dates, clutch sizes and fledging success, then compare these measures with information from bird ringing to determine whether breeding success or overwintering survival are driving population change. All you need to do is find a nest and look to see what’s in it… Visit www.bto.org/nrs. Share your experiences As well as collecting information, could you help us to inspire others? Could you take really good photos, or write about your experiences, so that we can encourage more people to go slow and see more?
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to observe – trees maturing, for example. Your birdwatching could offer similar rewards if you re-visit certain areas often, and go slow… A few weeks later and we’re back, watching quietly from a vantage point opposite the scrub patch. Will our Whitethroats still be here? Can we confirm that they’re breeding? We don’t have to wait long before the male appears with a beak full of caterpillars – we’ve cracked it! Breeding confirmed! We’re not in a rush though, so we carefully watch a few bouts of foraging and then wander over and, using a stout stick, gently part the vegetation. There, from a low nest among the brambles, four plump chicks stare back at us. What a privilege! So, just one small patch of bramble can give more pleasure than you might imagine if you slow right down and give it time to reveal its secrets. In watching the Whitethroats, who knows what else we’d have seen? Bees and butterflies among the wildflowers, perhaps a family of stoats at play, or maybe an adder basking in the spring sunshine? One thing’s for sure – W. H. Davies was correct in concluding: ‘A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare’. ■ 11
A tale of two warblers Blackcaps and Garden Warblers are similar in habitat, habits and song, but much else distinguishes them, as Su Gough explains.
â–˛ The long wings of the Garden Warbler assist its long-distance migration. u Blackcap can nest in open woodland and dense scrub.
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A Tale of Two Warblers
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e know spring has truly arrived when warblers return and fill the verdant countryside with their enthusiastic songs. One of the earliest to arrive and most popular songsters is Blackcap but, for those learning birdsong, this also marks the start of the annual frustration of trying to separate Blackcap from the closely related Garden Warbler. They may be similar in habitat, habits and song but they look very different and this species-pair have many other fascinating distinguishing features. Arriving from late March, Blackcaps are common birds with 1.2 million pairs around the country, missing only from the extreme Western Isles. They have been
In the breeding season there is huge overlap in habitat, although Blackcap can cope with more open woodland whereas Garden Warbler favours thick scrub. Despite being the more northerly species, Garden Warblers are extremely rare in the winter in UK and their proportionately longer wings hint at a very different migration strategy. Most Blackcaps leave our shores fairly late, with peak migration in late September. Their early arrival and relatively short wings suggests a short migration and this is exactly what ringing has shown. Although some Blackcaps are known to cross the Sahara, most UKringed breeding birds winter in Iberia, parts of southern France and North Africa.
GARDEN WARBLER: GRAHAM CLARKE/BTO, BLACKCAP: JOHN HARDING/BTO
Garden Warbler song is similar in content but hurried in delivery spreading north and west for many years and are now also a familiar sight on our winter feeders, as birds from north-central Europe come here instead of heading south. Both Blackcaps and Garden Warblers belong to the aptly-named genus Sylvia, (woodland sprite) and Blackcaps’ specific name atricapilla (black-capped) is pretty descriptive, although females' and young birds’ caps are chestnut. Garden Warblers are less familiar, skulking birds that arrive several weeks later than Blackcap, with a peak in mid-May. They lack any striking features – some say borin by name and boring by nature – but this undervalues a very beautiful, subtle bird. About 170,000 territories are distributed across the UK but they are absent from much of Ireland and northern Scotland. Despite this apparent southerly bias, Garden Warbler is among the most northerly occurring warblers in Europe – one of only two nesting at North Cape in Arctic Norway. 2017 | Volunteer
Garden Warblers do head across the Sahara, leaving us from mid-August and with most gone by mid-September. They migrate through western Europe and winter in the humid zone of tropical West Africa, which is an area our Cuckoos also visit on passage during their return journeys to the UK each spring. UPS AND DOWNS Garden Warbler young develop more quickly in the nest than Blackcap chicks do, allowing faster turnover of broods and a potential to make up time in their shorter breeding season. Information from volunteer nest recorders indicates that Garden Warblers are gradually laying earlier ‒ from an average laying date of 28 May in 1967 to 20 May in 2014. More volunteer data from the same period show that the Garden Warbler breeding population has fluctuated dramatically, but underneath these changes, we are now beginning to see a shallow decline.
In comparison, Blackcaps have been increasing since the 1970s. Remarkably, that increase has accelerated over the last five years despite the same breeding habitat degradation that has negatively affected Garden Warblers. Average laying date has also been getting earlier, but by an even greater margin from 24 May in 1967 to 11 May in 2014. SO MUCH SING-SONG And so, to those frustrating songs. At the very beginning of the season you can be confident that you are hearing Blackcap. It is rich, fluty and, most importantly, sounds well-practised and measured, as if the bird were delivering a performance. A month later you will hear Garden Warblers joining the chorus. The song is similar in content but hurried in delivery – perhaps they have to catch-up having arrived late! They usually don’t take measured breaks and seem breathless, not knowing how to stop once they’ve started. The song is more varied than Blackcap and, although there are incredible fluty almost Nightingale-esque moments, there are many more scratchy elements, almost like a Whitethroat. It is not just to our ears that Blackcaps and Garden Warblers sound similar. Nesting in almost identical habitats and competing for food and resources; Blackcaps and Garden Warblers not only defend their territories against members of the same species, but also against each other. Blackcaps are notorious for mimicking Garden Warbler song and this is probably a deliberate attempt to discourage incoming birds from settingup nearby territories. It may further complicate things for us, but with practice it is possible to tell them apart. There is nothing quite like the first time you think that a song you can hear sounds like a Blackcap ‘singing Garden Warbler’, see the songster and realise you were right! ■
Find out more
For more on ID, see: www.bto.org/bird-id Sign up for a survey: www.bto.org/ volunteer-surveys
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Take part
Including ■ House Martin Nest Study ■ European Breeding Bird Atlas ■ Woodcock Survey
Volunteers needed for House Martin Survey
DOUG WELCH/BTO
▼ House Martin pairs may raise two or even three broods per year.
Do you know of any House Martin nests near your home or work? If so, we’d love you to monitor the progress of one or more of the nests during this breeding season. The response to our survey so far has been fantastic and here, Ian Woodward describes how you can get involved. Nesting right under the eaves of our homes, House Martins are one of our nearest ornithological neighbours yet 14
we know surprisingly little about them. The best information we have on the UK population suggests that they have declined significantly since the 1960s but monitoring this species is very difficult. In an attempt to shed light on how the population is faring and what might be affecting our House Martins, we organised the House Martin Survey which started in 2015 with a count of House Martins in randomly selected
squares. This was followed last year with a study of nest sites. The House Martin Nest Study has been different from many BTO surveys, as we asked volunteers to make short but regular visits throughout the breeding season in order to determine the timing, number and outcome of breeding attempts at individual nests. The requirement to make regular visits, ideally at least weekly, was very important to meet these aims, but we were aware that Volunteer | 2017
Take part House Martin Survey
such an ongoing commitment might be demanding, so we were uncertain about how many people would participate. However, as usual, our volunteers did not disappoint and there has been a fantastic response to our Nest Study, with over a thousand people taking part, submitting records from over 4,600 nests. As we anticipated, many of you have followed the progress of nesting attempts on your own home or place of work, although this wasn’t essential and some of you have covered colonies elsewhere. Most survey sites were small, with 50% of the buildings surveyed having one or two nests, but 3% of the survey sites had 20 or more nests!
Your stories The Nest Study has generated a large volume of e-mails and phone calls, both from survey participants and from members of the public, highlighting how much you care about your House Martins. These have included pictures of innovative solutions when nests have collapsed, with instances of homeowners using plastic food trays and cardboard boxes to put the chicks back in place under the eaves: in both cases this was successful and the adults carried on feeding the young in their new ‘nest’. We have also received some fascinating footage taken from a camera inside an artificial House Martin nest, showing just how cramped the nest becomes before the young fledge. Many of you have told us that watching the nests for the survey has enabled you to observe aspects of behaviour that you hadn’t noticed before, such as adults and fledged young making visits to different nests within the colony. Previous House Martin research has shown that adult birds do visit other nests in the colony and sometimes mate outside their pair bond. One survey participant watched a pair making return
50% of the buildings surveyed had one or two nests, but 3% of the survey sites had twenty or more nests! We have decided to run the nest study again in 2017, so that we can compare the results over two breeding seasons rather than just one. If you took part in 2016, we hope that you will be able to take part again this year. We received a large number of anecdotal reports that breeding was late in 2016 following poor weather in the spring, and therefore direct comparison of the same nests will be useful to us to help confirm (or refute) this. However, records from sites which weren’t surveyed last year will also be extremely valuable. If you didn’t take part in 2016 and know a nesting site which you can view for ten to fifteen minutes approximately once a week, please do consider taking part in 2017.
journeys from one nest to another transferring nest material, confirming that House Martins can sometimes decide to move home mid-season. One observer near Cambridge watched three adults which all appeared to be making feeding visits to the same nest. Of course, for a colonial nesting bird like the House Martin it will be difficult to prove for certain that three adult birds are sharing the same nest, unless the birds are marked as individuals in some way. However, additional ‘helpers’ at nests are not uncommon in the bird world, with Longtailed Tits being one of the most wellknown examples in the UK. In House Martins, incidences of young from a first brood helping to feed the second brood have previously been recorded, and at least one person recorded this happening during the 2016 Nest Study (in Suffolk). However, the Cambridge observations above were made early in the season, in June, before any first brood young had fledged. ▼ Two chicks being fed in their makeshift 'nest'.
Further information can be found on our website at www.bto.org/housemartins. If you need further advice or help setting up your survey site online, please contact us by e-mailing housemartins@bto.org.
2017 | Volunteer
PETER RAMSDEN
Get involved
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Gap-filling in Britain and Ireland in 2017 for the European Breeding Bird Atlas
We have recently launched ‘Find the Gap’, a new web-based tool for updating information on exactly where British and Irish birds are breeding for the new European Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA2). As reported in BTO News, efforts to collect data for this ambitious project have been underway across Europe since 2013, focused in southern and eastern Europe where there has been less structured bird recording. It is now time for the UK to ensure it delivers too. This fun and flexible survey is one of our survey priorities in 2017, as David Noble explains. A problem faced by the UK and Ireland is that the data collection period for EBBA2 encompasses the years 2013 to 2017 and hence the comprehensive data
LIZ CUTTING/BTO
▼ Cetti's Warbler first bred in Britain in 1972 and can now be found breeding across much of England and Wales.
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Volunteer | 2017
Take part EBBA
set gathered for the Bird Atlas 2007‒11 is, strictly-speaking, outside this. Fortunately, there are ongoing UK schemes where sitespecific evidence of breeding is collected, including the Ringing and Nest Record Schemes, and BirdTrack, which has a facility to record breeding evidence. And it is much easier to get data at EBBA2’s 50-km grid square level than for 10-km squares used in Bird Atlas 2007‒11. Based on these schemes, the Rare Breeding Bird Panel, RSPB surveys and some regional atlases, we have been able to identify currently breeding species (2013‒17) for each 50-km square. The list for each square is compared to Bird Atlas 2007‒11, and colour coded according to the percentage of confirmed breeding species of those expected, in the interactive map now available on our website. Clicking on a square produces a pop-up table listing all species known to breed in that square during the Bird Atlas 2007‒11, alongside the current breeding status and the highest-level breeding evidence code for 2013‒17. HOW TO CONTRIBUTE With this information, participants go to their selected square and target their birding on species for which we have no current evidence of breeding (2013‒2017). The map is updated weekly, automatically adjusting the current breeding status in the pop-up table. The method for submitting information is by logging your records in BirdTrack, and adding breeding evidence codes, the same ones used for the Bird Atlas 2007‒11. Like all BirdTrack records, each should be accompanied by a site reference which is most valuable at high resolution such as 1-km square or a nature reserve. TARGET SPECIES Experienced birdwatchers will know that some species are unlikely to have changed their distribution since Bird Atlas 2007‒11. These include widespread species such as Blackbird and Carrion Crow, as well as rarer (e.g. Cirl Bunting) or colonial species (e.g. Gannet) restricted to a small area. However, the ranges of other species are more dynamic. Cetti’s Warbler, Firecrest, Little Egret and Egyptian Goose are rapidly expanding in the UK, whereas Willow Tit, Turtle Dove and Nightingale have declined significantly in numbers and range. These are species which we expect to change but other changes are less predictable. Missing 2017 | Volunteer
▲ Find the EBBA2 gaps to fill using the map on our website.
Cetti’s Warbler, Firecrest, Little Egret and many non-native species such as Egyptian Goose are rapidly expanding in the UK breeding evidence for common species will be captured quickly through ‘Find the Gap’, and we expect that the species to target will soon become obvious. OTHER SOURCES OF DATA So far, we have not used data from the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) or Waterways Breeding Bird Survey (WBBS), because records are not accompanied by breeding evidence and include many non-breeding individuals. We will further explore the potential of these schemes to provide data using records accompanied by detection codes such as song, but even this information will need further validation given that some species sing on passage in suitable breeding habitat. However, BBS data are ideal for modelling relative abundance and, along with similar information from other countries, could have a major role in EBBA2.
WHY NOT USE BIRD ATLAS 2007–11? Given the huge effort and resources that went into Bird Atlas 2007‒11, it may seem unreasonable not to just use those high quality data. These data are important for directing effort in the context of ‘Find the Gap’ and will subsequently be used to help validate records and potentially for remaining gaps. But if we rely on it entirely, the Bird Atlas 2007‒11 information will be, on average, about five years earlier than information from the rest of Europe and could significantly bias geographical comparisons on when and where species are shifting their breeding ranges. Given the number of keen British birdwatchers and the contributions from ongoing monitoring schemes, we believe that with targeted effort and a flexible roving approach, the UK can deliver accurate, unbiased and up-to-date information at this relatively coarse 50-km scale, and hence maintain the integrity of future scientific studies on European bird distributions. The new information will also be invaluable for current nature conservation and research in this country.
Get involved
To find your local EBBA2 gaps, visit www.bto.org/ebba2 To register for BirdTrack, visit www.birdtrack.net More information can be found on www.ebba2.info, or you can e-mail ebba2@bto.org with any questions.
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Following the results of the 2013 survey, which showed a 29% decline in breeding Woodcock since 2003, it is very pleasing to report that the annual monitoring has shown an upturn in breeding numbers. The substantial increase in 2016 takes the breeding abundance index to the highest level since 2008 (see graph).
Although the reason for the increase is not known, it is thought to be due to a productive breeding season in 2015, coupled with high survival during the mild 2015/16 winter. Annual counts serve two important purposes, firstly to show how breeding numbers change between years, which
Get involved
Please do help with monitoring in 2017, either by re-surveying your site or selecting one of the many vacant recently occupied survey squares. Full details of survey squares, documentation and how to take part, can be found on the Woodcock Survey page: www.bto.org /woodcocksurvey or contact: woodcock@bto.org.
Woodcock breeding numbers 2002–2016 Woodcock population index (displaying males) with upper and lower 95% confidence limits. 1.8
Abundance index (males)
1.6 1.4 1.2 1 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0
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2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
p You can watch the male Woodcock's charateristic 'roding' display at sunset.
Volunteer | 2017
WOODCOCK: ROGER TIDMAN/NPL, LITTLE OWL: AUSTIN THOMAS/BTO
BTO/GWCT breeding Woodcock monitoring
may be due to weather or over winter survival, but more importantly to give an early warning of further change. During 2016, over 150 sites were again counted, which provides the level of coverage required to monitor change effectively. So we certainly need to maintain, or even increase, this level of coverage in future.
Help us unlock the BTO secret... For the best part of a century we have been quietly amassing powerful, unbiased scientific information about birds and the habitats they depend on, building a knowledge base which is the envy of most other countries in the world. Perhaps we have been a little too quiet in our approach, with some people describing BTO as the conservation sector’s ‘best kept secret’. We need to make sure that more people hear about our work. With more pressure on our wildlife than ever and growing uncertainty about future environmental policy, knowing where and how biodiversity is being impacted is increasingly important. As
Membership income plays a vital role in ensuring we can continue to deliver impartial evidence about our wildlife 2017 | Volunteer
an independent charity, membership income plays a vital role in ensuring we can continue to deliver impartial evidence about our wildlife. Support expressed through membership is crucial to how much we can achieve. The membership fees we receive give us the freedom to do the work that matters most - and to communicate our findings more widely. With your support we can learn more about our birds and how we can live in harmony with our wildlife. As a member you’ll receive updates about our work through our members magazine which also features articles to help you learn more about birds and birdwatching. You’ll receive a 15% discount off our training courses and you’ll be able to contact a regional representative who can help you get involved in our surveys.
Get involved
Be part of our growing community and help us ensure more people hear about our work - join BTO today. For more information call our supporter team on 01842 750050 or e-mail membership@bto.org
p The look and content of our membership magazine, BTO News, has evolved through the decades.
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u Spoonbills are becoming more common in Britain, so look out for them on your WeBS count.
70 years of UK waterbird monitoring This autumn will mark 70 years since a national scheme was established to count British wildfowl. Today, the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) covers all waterbird species, thanks to a hardworking and knowledgeable network of 160 volunteer Local Organisers and thousands of birdwatchers, as Teresa Frost explains. One of the most important achievements of the scheme is to allow us to see which species are doing well, and which badly over a long period. The 21st Century has been a successful one for the heron family, with Little Egret and Spoonbill indices increasing four or fivefold since 2000; Great White Egrets, too, are becoming a commoner sight. But it is in looking further back that the long-term value of the survey becomes clear. 20
Following the start of the scheme in 1947, more sites have been added every year. This means that today national wintering indices for wildfowl are available from 1966/67, and for waders from 1974/75. This enables us to identify long-term declines. For example, wintering Pochard numbers in the UK have been dropping steadily since 1999. In the most recent WeBS report the Pochard index was the lowest ever, and just a third of the index in the 1980s and 90s. Not every species shows sustained increases or declines. For example, the latest Redshank index (2014/15) was equal to that in 1974/75: in-between it bottomed 22% lower in 1981/82 and peaked 32% higher in 1994/95. Counting waterbirds enables effective conservation, facilitating identification
Every WeBS counter provides a vital piece of information to help us understand and conserve our wetland birds
Volunteer | 2017
Take part WeBS
t Choose a high priority WeBS site to make your waterbird records really count.
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How to take part 2
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Ready for a challenge? The following sites are all high priority and need experienced individuals or teams of counters to cover them. 1 | Coniston Water and Windermere, Cumbria – each require a full day of counting. 2 | Several sites in the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads – some of these areas have restricted access or require boats. 3 | Mersea Island, Essex – part of the Colne Estuary
SPOONBILL: EDMUND FELLOWES/BTO, BIRD WATCHER: DAVID TIPLING/BTO
4 | Estuaries requiring more team members include the Solway, the Duddon, Morecambe Bay, The Wash, Carlingford Lough and the Severn.
u Use the WeBS Vacant Sites tool at www.bto.org/webs-vacant-sites to find sites near you that aren’t currently being counted. The largest sites are divided into countable sectors and each sector is shown separately in the tool. u Consider what type and size of site would be suitable for you. Small sites with few birds may take as little as 20 minutes to count and suit someone less experienced at surveying, whereas a site that involves a lot of walking or has thousands of birds of many species could take several hours. If you are a skilled birder, why not see if you can help us fill in priority site gaps? u You need to be able to accurately identify all the waterbirds that regularly use the site. One way to get an idea of which species regularly occur is to use the 'View Site' link in the vacant sites tool to view historical data on the online WeBS report. u You also need to be able to accurately count the number of each species present during your WeBS count. Consider access points and what landowner permissions you may need to obtain. Some sites can only be feasibly counted by boat.
u For priority sites, it is especially important that few visits are missed, so counters need to commit to counting on the official core count Sunday (the national priority date or local tideadjusted date for certain estuaries) as often as possible throughout the year, with particular emphasis on the September – March period. Other counters should also try and complete their counts on the priority date – but a count on another proximate date can be better than none at all! u Some regions have fewer existing WeBS sites. If you regularly visit a river, lake or other wetland that isn’t already a WeBS site, you can ask us to set it up as a site for you. u Contact your Local Organiser through the WeBS Vacant Site website to get allocated to the site and we’ll send you the WeBS counter starter pack. u Want further advice? Chat to your WeBS Local Organiser about local mentoring and training opportunities or guidance on how you can best get involved locally and visit the WeBS website at www.bto.org/webs.
of sites that require protection under our international obligations to protect wintering sites for migratory waterbirds. National population estimates provide vital context for assessing site importance, and this is one of the reasons coverage of smaller sites holding smaller aggregations of birds is useful. Another is that, for some species, numbers at the best sites may hold up while declines happen in the wider countryside. Every WeBS counter, therefore, provides a vital piece of information to help us understand and conserve our wetland birds. We are always looking for more people to help with this important work. To make it easier to see where help is most needed, we have developed a new vacant site tool that allows you to search a list of sites in your area or browse a map. ■ 2017 | Volunteer
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Bird ID and WeBS Survey 20 June Hams Hall Environmental Studies Centre, Coleshill, Warwickshire, B46 1GA Summary: Learn how to identify waterbirds and how the Wetland Bird Survey could be the survey for you. About: Tame Valley Wetland partnership is kindly sponsoring a series of BTO courses here in 2017 at a discounted cost. To find out more about this great collaboration, bringing wildlife and conserving habitats so close to the urban centres of the Midlands see www.discovertamevalley.com. Price: £30, including all materials and teaching, tea and coffee.
Bird ID (residential)
BTO training courses provide expert tuition and support to develop your birdwatching skills in some great places. We offer a range of day and residential courses at venues around the UK. Join us on one of these courses to learn more about surveying birds and brush up on your bird indentification skills. Our friendly, knowledgeable trainers are experienced at helping people of all skills and abilities.
t What better place to learn about identifying birds like Grey Heron than Slimbridge WWT?
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Bird ID workshop 15 June Community Hall, Muirton, Aviemore, Highlands, PH22 1SF Summary: Learn how to identify a range of birds by sight, increasing your repertoire and introducing some by song as well. About: Increase your confidence identifying a range of birds in the local area, and how you can put this to valuable use – and have great fun – by getting involved in surveys. Price: £60, including all teaching and materials, tea and coffee. Please bring a packed lunch.
All About BTO Surveys (residential) 16–18 June How Hill, Ludham, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, NR29 5PG Summary: Learn about BTO surveys, their value to science and how fun and easy they are to do. About: Norfolk is rightly known as one of the best places to come birdwatching. This gorgeous venue commands stunning views over its own wetland reserve and Bitterns and Marsh Harriers are almost guaranteed. Using BTO surveys as our examples for the theory sessions and out in the field, you will quickly get a comprehensive overview of the 'hows and whys' of survey methods and discover just how easy and enjoyable they are to do! Price: £250, including teaching materials, refreshments and full board and lodgings from a cooked evening meal on Day 1 to lunch on Day 3. A non-residential price of £170 is also available.
Bird ID and WeBS Survey 8 August Slimbridge WWT, Bowditch, Gloucestershire, GL2 7BT Summary: Learn how to identify waterbirds and how the Wetland Bird Survey could be the survey for you. About: An iconic venue, with plenty of scope for putting into practice what you learn! Being a wetland centre, the focus of this workshop is identifying wetland birds, and how that can help the Wetland Bird Survey. Price: £60, including all teaching and materials, tea and coffee. Please bring a packed lunch.
All About BTO Surveys (residential) 8–10 September Dale Fort FSC, Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, SA62 3RD Summary: Learn about BTO surveys, their value to science and how fun and easy they are to do. About: This Napoleonic Fort is graced with seabirds, Choughs, Ravens and other typical birds of the Welsh Coast. Simply a fantastic place to spend a weekend! We will look at general survey principles which will stand you in good stead for getting involved in any kind of wildlife survey before examining several methods in more detail. Price: £250, including teaching, materials, refreshments and full board and lodgings from a cooked evening meal om Day 1 to lunch on Day 3. A non-residential price of £170 is also available.
Get involved
Visit www.bto.org/training to book your course.
Volunteer | 2017
PEOPLE: DAVID TIPLING/BTO, GREY HERON: JOHN HARDING/BTO
Improve your ID skills with BTO TRAINING COURSES:
23–25 June Castle Head FSC, Grange-over-Sands, Cumbria, LA11 6QT Level: Beginner About: The complete package – gain confidence in identifying birds by sight and sound. About: Castle Head is a super venue with access to a huge range of birds, habitats and reserves. Our 2½-day residential bird ID courses have proved very popular! Led by renowned ornithologist, Steve Piotrowski, the course will start with visual identification of common species and move through songs and calls, increasing your confidence and repertoire. The course will involve many outdoor sessions with plenty of opportunities to observe birds in their natural habitats and put what you have learnt into practice! Price: £250, including teaching, materials, refreshments and full board and lodgings from a cooked evening meal on Day 1 to lunch on Day 3. A non-residential price of £170 is also available.
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Take part Ten things
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If you’ve got an occupied nest box that you can easily monitor by either lifting the lid or watching it on a nest box camera then let us know about your nest through our Nest Box Challenge webpages. It’s an easy survey to set up and complete and you are bound to learn new things from watching the developments in your nest.
THINGS
PEOPLE: DAVID TIPLING/BTO, ARCTIC TERN: SARAH KELMAN/BTO, BIRD BOX: ALAMY, SWIFT: GRAHAM CATLEY/BTO, ADONIS BLUE: JOHN FLOWERDAY/BTO
you can do
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Contribute photos to our image library. We’re always on the lookout for fresh images which we can use in our magazine and digital channels like social media. If you’re willing to share high resolution images of birds and their habitats with us we’d love to hear from you via images@bto.org.
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You may not be a licensed bird ringer but you can still make an important contribution to the ringing scheme by reporting any ringed birds you see or find. Please keep an eye out for colour-ringed birds in particular.
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Make us your cause for a sponsored event! In 2017 several young birders are taking part in the Three-Peaks Challenge and donating the money they raise to our Curlew Appeal. Choose your challenge, and we’ll help you meet your funding target through support on social media and our e-news channels.
Lead a BTO walk in your local area – sharing the birds in your local area with others is a great way to pass on knowledge but to also learn what others know too. Who knows, it might lead to the first BTO local group?
2017 | Volunteer
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Make 2017 the year you finally crack Willow Warbler/ Chiffchaff or Arctic/ Common Tern ID by watching some of our free Bird ID video tutorials.
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Write for us! We’re always eager to get new stories for our Demog Blog and our Young Birders’ Blog, so tell us what you’re up to and we’ll help spread the news. E-mail ieuan.evans@bto.org
As you're watching your birds, look for nest box sites for next year. Why not put up a Swift box and play Swift calls to attract future occupants? Also, check your current boxes at the end of the season and repair or replace any that are looking worse for wear.
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If you’re at school, or know anybody who is, sign that school up to our ‘What’s Under Your Feet?’ initiative. This is a great opportunity to learn about the invertebrates that birds rely on and contribute to peer-reviewed scientific papers: jointhepod. org/campaigns/ campaign/51
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Take part in a bird survey! From entering your bird sightings (including breeding evidence) in BirdTrack to monitoring a local pond or wetland for WeBS, there’s a scheme for everyone. Visit www.bto.org/ volunteer-surveys.
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