The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The BTO have now published a list of the missing confirmed breeding species in each 50km by 50 km square covering the UK. See here: https://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/f ... rd-atlas-2.

To find the gaps where you live

1. click on the link above
2. Click on the large orange tab "View our map of breeding evidence" this will bring up the UK grid being used for this European survey.
3. Expand the map by clicking on the + in the top left corner. You can click on the map and drag it to identify your square in centre screen. Lincs is covered by about 10 squares but most of the county is covered by just 4, which I am calling N Lincs, S Lincs, NE Lincs and SE Lincs. Should be self evident when you look at the map.
4. Click on the square you are interested in. This will bring up an alphabetic list of all the species recorded in the square during the 2007 to 2011 atlas period. For each, the current known breeding status will be shown. The idea is to get as many species confirmed as possible by entering observations through our good friend Birdtrack.
5. If you click on show in the top left corner and then All in the drop down menu you can bring up a fill list on one screen. If like me, you prefer to stick to taxonomic order, click on the tab in the bottom left corner and the list will become taxonomic. There is also a print instruction in the bottom left corner too.
6. It is possible to copy and paste this list into excel and then manipulate it as you wish, to make a more specific target list of whats missing.

The lists should update in real time as birders enter breeding evidence on Birdtrack, so if you are going out specially to look for a bird in a couple of months time it may be worth checking the latest information by going through 1 to 6 again to see whats still missing. It would be good to get 100% confirmation for Lincs squares.

BTO regional organisers are not going to be closely involved in organising coverage for this atlas and squares will not be allocated. Everyone can do their own thing but if you would like any help or guidance please give your local rep a call. Contact details are on the LBC website and in the front of the bird report.

The Birdtrack app which is easy to use on smartphones makes it very easy to submit data while in the field.

Another point worth keeping in mind is that Birdtrack lists with timed counts i.e. record numbers of all species observed with a beginning and end time, will be used to help estimate relative abundance so it is worth submitting this data if you can.