July 2008
The British Trust for Ornithology launched its new atlas fieldwork last winter. Volunteers are asked to conduct two winter and two summer surveys and these are now completed for the the “tetrads” – the 2km x 2km squares, that incorporate the meadow and the village. There have been no surprises (apart from the disappointing news on Turtle Doves mentioned last month) though non-ornithologists may be interested to hear of the more uncommon birds that breed locally. These include Kingfishers near the meadow, Goldcrests in the village, Lesser Whitethroats (and the more frequent Whitethroat) in the Lings Lane area and the meadow and Tree Sparrows somewhere locally, judging by the family party I came across in late June. The Atlas results are entered online and anyone can add to the results with “Roving Records” so if you know a species has bred nearby you can check on whether I missed it by going to the website www.bto.org/birdatlas.