The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Given a number of different comments about how abysmal 2012 has been for breeding success, here is some definitive evidence from BTO's constant effort scheme which shows just how poor breeding success has been for our small birds. Follow the link and judge for yourself.

http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/ri ... sults/2012

Of 23 small passerines monitored, only one, blackbird managed to avoid the ill effects of all that rain.

I'd just like to add that this data fully justifies why ringing is such an important contribution to our knowledge of UK birds and I'd like to express my admiration and thanks for the dedication and hard work that constant effort ringers put in, especially in Lincolnshire.

Constant Effort Ringing was started in the early 1980's and is an important part of the BTO's Integrated Population Monitoring Programme and helps to provide a valuable insight into current population dynamics. If any readers would like further information, please contact me by pm.

While we now have the data regarding how devastating the poor summer weather was on breeding numbers, is there anything being undertaken to study the effects of the current weather and high river levels are having on river birds such as Kingfisher and Dipper? Walking around Clumber today (30/12/12) and seeing a number of rivers swollen the thought went through my mind.

Andrew