A new BBS square

I have been counting birds on a 1km square for the BTO Breeding Birds Survey (BBS) since 2006 and for this year I have taken on a second square.  My first square is 1km of unimproved grassland and bog with no trees or shrubs and the commonest birds are meadow pipit, skylark and curlew.  The new one couldn't be more different as it is all forest.

The two 1km transects are broken down into 200m sections and birds are counted in zones <25m, 25-100m, and >100m on two visits, one in May and one in June.

Although the transects mainly run along the tracks through the forest, with many tall trees on either side, there are areas where timber has been harvested or there is new plantation so there are some long distance views as well.

In other places the view is very limited and birds are mostly identified by their calls or song.

My first square has yielded a total of 29 species over 12 years, with an average of 11 per year (and probably about 9 per visit).  My new square has been surveyed three times in the past 12 years with a total 44 species -  21 per year (including 0 skylarks and 0 curlews).

The commonest birds in the new square on yesterday's visit were chaffinch, woodpigeon and mistle thrush.  Other highlights were cuckoo (several), jay, siskin, crossbill, redpoll, red grouse, willow warbler and chiffchaff.

Here is a very distant shot of a redpoll, a bird I usually see only in the winter.

And a siskin.

At the end of the first transect a more familiar bird was waiting.

The BBS also records mammals.  Near the end of the first transect this young roe buck popped out in front of me.

Because I was downwind and standing still he couldn't quite make me out and advanced down the track several times, sniffing the air.  It is a very remote spot so perhaps he had never seen a person before.  Eventually he lost interest and wandered off.

I'll be back for a second visit next month.  The latest BBS annual report - for 2017 - has just been published.  It, and all previous reports, can be accessed here.

Breeding Bird Survey

2015 is my tenth year of taking part in the BTO Breeding Bird Survey (BBS).  My 1km square is NY8274, halfway between Simonburn and Stonehaugh on the edge of the Wark Forest.  It contains mostly rough grassland and bog and there are no trees or shrubs.  One  farm track, one stone wall and a couple of stone sheepfolds are the only distinguishing features.  You can see in the map which are the boggy bits (most!).

The survey requires two visits a year to count the birds, one in May and one in June.  I start at 0700 and walk the first 1 km transect north to south, recording all the birds seen either side of the transect in 5 sectors as shown below.  Then I walk the second transect south to north.  And then it is time for coffee and a bacon sandwich.

These photos show the terrain.  At first glance you might not expect there to be any birds.

This is the wall.

This is one of the sheepfolds.

This is the "stone circle" marked on the map.  It's not quite Stonehenge.  I wonder who built it, and when, and why.

The average count is 8 or 9 species, about half the number I would see at home in the same time.  However, the commonest bird here is a skylark, followed by meadow pipit and curlew so the birds are very different from those I see at home.  Less common sightings have been stonechat, reed bunting, red grouse, grasshopper warbler, snipe and peregrine.  The survey also allows recordings of mammals.  I rarely see any but this time did record a brown hare.

The survey is of birds not nests or eggs so I don't look for nests but I do very occasionally stumble across one.  This is a meadow pipit nest to show how well concealed it is, followed by two set of meadow pit eggs to show the colour variation.

The one time I found a curlew nest was by almost treading on the sitting curlew and I didn't have a camera.  Not a mistake I'll make again.

It is interesting to visit the same patch at the same time of year and my small amount of data contribute to the survey. Last year over 2800 volunteers submitted data from around 3600 1km squares to the BBS.  Read more about the BBS here.