Birds Near and Far
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A blog by Dave Gosney about some of the birds and places that feature in his books and DVDs but also about the state of birds in the Sheffield area
14th January 2015
The 1988-90 Sheffield Tetrad Bird Count Survey
In 1988-90, when the BTO and partners launched the 'New Atlas' survey they asked observers to spend two hours in at least 8 tetrads per 10 km square and to list the species found in those 2 hours. At the time I thought it would be more valuable if those observers also COUNTED the birds during those timed visits so I asked members of the Sheffield Bird Study Group to generate timed (1-hour) counts in as many tetrads as possible while contributing to the national survey. To make the survey as complete as possible I undertook to do 1-hour counts in as many tetrads as I could, aiming to ensure that every tetrad in the Sheffield area had at least 1 count. In the end we received counts for 295 of the 300 tetrads.
As a result, for each breeding species, an Abundance Map was generated showing how many of that species were counted in each tetrad. At the time these were never published but they are available now via the links below. (With apologies for their rather basic nature but redrafting them would have been too big a job).
Raptors Coots and Gamebirds Crests Flycatchers Tits
Owls to Woodpeckers Starling to Sparrows
