Forthcoming national and local Atlas 2027-31

Many of you will be aware that the next national Bird Atlas will be starting its fieldwork in November 2027. The atlas will be running for four years to understand winter and breeding season distribution and abundance.

This time round, the York Ornithological Club plans to take the opportunity to produce a local atlas in parallel. This will mean there will be a drive to cover as many tetrads (of the 375) in the region as possible; enhancing the national atlas picture at the same time.

Therefore, I shall be looking for volunteer surveyors to take on Timed Tetrad Visits and to visit tetrads for improving the species lists and finding breeding evidence using the Roving Records approach. It is early days yet but please let me know if you are interested in taking part.

BBS 2026 summary

At the time of writing this post, there are 41 squares with data for the 2026 BBS season. There is one other to come that I know has been surveyed; that would make it the best ever season. I am very grateful to all 37 volunteer surveyors who have taken part to achieve this. They have walked 157.8 km and recorded 8,805 individual birds of 96 species. 

Furthermore, all four WBBS stretches were covered again.

An excellent effort, everyone.