Breeding Bird Survey 2008 - regional highlights

I thought that following extract from a BTO press release about the BBS from 16 July might be of interest to you:

"Yorkshire and the Humber is the only region in which Skylark (4%) has increased in numbers. Blackbird (57%), Carrion Crow (96%), Long-tailed Tit (64%), Moorhen (56%) and Reed Bunting (57%) have increased more than in other regions. Kestrel (-23%) and Magpie (-19%) have declined the most in this region, and it is the only one in which Whitethroat (-3%) has declined.

[Bird names in red and in amber denote the species is on the red or amber list respectively of Birds of Conservation Concern 3: 2009 ]

All the figures refer to the smoothed long-term trends covering the BBS period."

I received my copy of the report for 2008 in the post yesterday, it should be with you or on its way if you took part in the BBS last year.

Breeding Bird Survey

The Breeding Bird Survey season has now finished for 2009. Currently I have data from 16 squares submitted through the BBS-Online system. One or two of these are for one visit only.

The last two years have seen the York Region hit 30 squares covered, so we are half way there. Potentially we could achieve 35 squares, although in practice there are usually a handful that don't get covered for one reason or another.

The system is down for maintenance at the time of writing but will be back tomorrow. Please submit your data as soon as you can.

Garden BirdWatch Conference in Harrogate

The BTO's Garden BirdWatch will be coming to Harrogate on Saturday 27th June to launch the Ambassador scheme for the [Yorkshire] region and introduce the new volunteer representatives to local participants.

The launch will consist of a half day conference from 9.30am to 12.30pm at the St Roberts Conference Centre and will involve talks from Amy Lewis (BTO Garden BirdWatch Development Officer), the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and a speaker from a local badger group.

The day is free to attend and I can pass on details in the form of a pdf file if you drop me an email.

York Region's Newsletter

You should have received a Yorkshire (York) Region newsletter enclosed with the latest BTO News. If you haven't, please let me know. I can email you one in pdf format.

Breeding Bird Survey 2009 volunteers required

I am looking for volunteers to take on a BBS square. I have at least three squares available, possibly four.

Please drop me a line to let me know. The link to email me is on the right of this page.

Breeding Bird Survey 2009

I have recently received the forms for this year's BBS and have today sent out an email to regulars surveyors for confirmation that they will be continuing with their square. If you haven't received the email, it's because I already have you down as confirmed. This year's pack is cut down somewhat from previous years for those who use the BBS on-line for submitting their results.

I am likely to have a few squares available for new volunteers or for an exisiting observer to take on a new square. Please let me know if you wish to take one on. Let's see if we can continue the great efforts over the last few years and keep a high coverage rate. 2008 equalled 2007's record of 31 BBS squares being surveyed.

BBS for Butterflies - There will be a flyer in the pack requesting help with the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey. This will be based on the BBS and needs volunteers for visits in July and August. Let me know or follow this instructions on the leaflet if you want to take part.

Bird Atlas validation - YOC list

In addition to the records on the YNU list (see separate posting) and national rarities, these species are locally scarce and are likely (in bold expected) to need a description for the York Ornithological Club (list as YOC version at 2006):

White-fronted Goose
Snow Goose
Brent Goose – all races
Egyptian Goose
Green-winged Teal
Garganey
Red-crested Pochard
Ring-necked Duck
(Greater) Scaup
(Common) Eider
Long-tailed Duck
Common Scoter
Velvet Scoter
Red-breasted Merganser
Black Grouse
Quail
Golden Pheasant
Red-throated Diver
Black-throated Diver
Great Northern Diver
Red-necked Grebe
Slavonian Grebe
Black-necked Grebe
Fulmar
Cory’s Shearwater
Great Shearwater
Sooty Shearwater
Manx Shearwater
Balearic Shearwater
European Storm-petrel
Leach’s Storm-petrel
Gannet
Shag
(Eurasian) Bittern
White Stork
Spoonbill
Red Kite
Marsh Harrier
Hen Harrier
Goshawk
Osprey
Merlin
Hobby
Spotted Crake
Corncrake
Common Crane
Stone Curlew
Little Ringed Plover
Dotterel
Knot
Sanderling
Little Stint
Temminck’s Stint
Pectoral Sandpiper
Curlew Sandpiper
Purple Sandpiper
Buff-breasted Sandpiper
Jack Snipe
Black-tailed Godwit
Bar-tailed Godwit
Whimbrel
Spotted Redshank
Pomarine Skua
Arctic Skua
Long-tailed Skua
Great Skua
Grey Phalarope
Mediterranean Gull
Lesser Black-backed Gull (^ of Baltic race fuscus)
Glaucous Gull
Iceland Gull (^ including Kumlien’s Gull)
Yellow-legged Gull
Little Gull
Kittiwake
Sabine’s Gull
Little Tern
Black Tern
Sandwich Tern
Arctic Tern
Roseate Tern
Common Guillemot
Black Guillemot
Razorbill
Little Auk
Puffin
Ring-necked Parakeet
Long-eared Owl
(European) Bee-eater
Hoopoe
Wryneck
Wood Lark
Shore Lark
Richard’s Pipit
Water Pipit
Rock Pipit
Yellow Wagtail (scarce races)
Black-bellied Dipper
Nightingale
Bluethroat
Black Redstart
Ring Ouzel
Cetti’s Warbler
Icterine Warbler
Barred Warbler
Pallas’s Warbler
Yellow-browed Warbler
Firecrest
Red-breasted Flycatcher
Bearded Tit
Golden Oriole
Red-backed Shrike
Great Grey Shrike
Chough
Raven
(European) Serin
Twite
Mealy (Common) Redpoll
(Common) Crossbill
Scottish Crossbill
Common Rosefinch
Hawfinch
Lapland Bunting
Snow Bunting
Ortolan Bunting

Apologies for the long list but I thought it may be a useful reference.