During the Winter Thrushes Survey's first winter, over 1,600 observers made more than 12,600 visits to over 3,100 different sites, counting more than 811,000 birds. These numbers easily exceeded all expectations and will enable the BTO to do even more with the results.
Despite a massive late-October movement of thrushes on parts of the North Sea coast in 2012, thrush numbers through the winter were lower than usual in most places across the UK - a poor berry crop apparently prompting many birds to move quickly onwards.
The second winter of WTS, which begins officially on 15 September. The survey's web pages and data module have been updated and the BTO's database is already set to begin receiving your new season's data. With a heavier berry crop to support the thrushes this winter, we should discover how their numbers and food sources can differ between two consecutive winter seasons and to what extent conclusions from the survey can be generalised across winters, regions and habitat types. I hope we can count on your help again!
The survey methods and procedures are unchanged (except that we are no longer collecting data for species other than thrushes, Starling and Waxwing). You can use your own existing sites for winter walks, select others or, with the agreement of your WTS regional organiser, carry out the midwinter core count (between Dec 27 and Jan 10) at one of the randomly selected squares. Repeat walks along the same routes as last year will be especially valuable, as will coverage of new core squares.
Please first have a look at
www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/winter-thrushes to renew your knowledge of the survey.
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Andrew Chick Website:
http://www.forktail.co.uk/
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