Surveys & Research
Breeding Bird Atlas
The LDBWS Breeding Bird Atlas 2022-2025 aims to document the status of all avian species known or suspected to have bred in our district in a 4-year period. This will be the end result of hundreds of survey hours provided by LDBWS members and other volunteers. This page sets out how you can contribute to the project to ensure we end up with as comprehensive a record as possible.
How you can help?
There are three main ways you can help:
Surveying a whole tetrad
If you volunteer to cover a tetrad you will need to visit as many of the habitats in that tetrad as you can over the course of the breeding season, recording all breeding evidence you find (see below for details). This will require at least two visits (early and late in the season) to ensure that you cover all breeding birds in the area. No expert knowledge is needed; you just need to be able to identify the birds you see, and record very basic information about their behaviour – e.g. if they are singing, seen entering a nest site, or with young.
The map below shows the current target tetrads. Squares highlighted in red are tetrads which are vacant or require more work – click on these to see the tetrad name, which will be in the form of a five-character alphanumeric code such as SD46V. The section highlighted in yellow is currently pending an update and may have vacant tetrads within it.
This map will be kept up to date as tetrads are claimed, so please get in touch (via ldbws.info@gmail.com) if you can cover any of the areas shown below.
Targeted fieldwork
Some of the species that breed in our area are not easily found when carrying out generalised surveys of a large area – they require targeted fieldwork at specific places and times of the year/day. This includes Woodcock, Hobby, several species of owl, Green Woodpecker, Grasshopper Warbler, Ring Ouzel and Hawfinch. The exact work required in a targeted survey depends heavily on what species you are looking for, so please contact us via ldbws.info@gmail.com for further information if you are interested.
Ad-hoc records
We need all the data that is available – including any ad hoc records you have – to ensure the Atlas is as complete as it can possibly be. If you’re out and about and see evidence of breeding, please do let us know – especially if you are in a less-travelled site (such as one of the squares highlighted on the map above) or you find evidence of breeding by species which are secretive, highly selective in their breeding locations, or just not very densely populated. This includes the species listed above, but also includes birds that might be relatively common across the district such as wagtails in urban locations, Reed Buntings on isolated ponds in otherwise dry areas, and all kinds of raptors. See below for details of what a breeding record looks like.
You can post your ad hoc records on the website sightings page or send them directly to ldbws.info@gmail.com. Please be aware that sensitive breeding records (e.g. raptors; any rare species; records from private sites) should not be posted on the website. If in doubt about what constitutes a sensitive record, please send it via email.
What is a breeding record?
When you provide breeding evidence, we need two things:
- The exact location, in one of the following formats:
- (Preferably) An OS Grid Reference with at least 4 digits – e.g. SD4163. More than 4 digits is fine, but not necessary. Please note that if you have a 6-digit reference, you can’t simply delete the last two to get a 4-digit one.
- Longitude and latitude, or,
- A what3words address.
- Whether the record is Possible, Probable or Confirmed.
We use a standard set of criteria (used by the BTO and other organisations around the world) to determine what level of breeding is reported, which is set out in the table below:
| Level | Evidence |
| Possible breeding | Species observed in breeding season in suitable nesting habitat |
| Singing male present in breeding season in suitable breeding habitat | |
| Probable breeding | Pair observed in suitable nesting habitat in breeding season |
| Permanent territory presumed through registration of territorial behaviour (e.g. song) on at least two different days a week or more apart OR many individuals on one day | |
| Courtship and display judged to be in or near potential breeding habitat (be cautious with wildfowl) | |
| Visiting probable nest site | |
| Agitated behaviour or anxiety calls from adults, suggesting probable presence of nest or young nearby | |
| Nest-building or excavating nest hole | |
| Confirmed breeding | Distraction display or injury feigning |
| Used nest or eggshells found | |
| Recently fledged young or downy young (careful consideration should be given to the provenance of any fledged juvenile capable of significant geographical movement – evidence of dependency on adults is helpful. | |
| Adults entering or leaving nest site in circumstances indicating occupied nest or adults seen incubating | |
| Adult carrying faecal sac or food for young | |
| Nest containing eggs | |
| Nest with young seen or heard |
Local Surveys
January Survey
A survey of a 10km square done over 8 hours during January noting all species seen/heard. Contact pmrsh123@aol.com if interested.
R. Lune Waterbird Survey
A survey of a stretch of the Lune mapping the locations of breeding waterbirds on a series of visits between the end of March and the beginning of July. Contact kbbriggs@yahoo.com if interested.
National Surveys
BBS (Breeding Bird Survey)
A two visit survey of a 1km square done between April – July, noting all birds seen/heard along two transects. Visit https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/bbs for more details and to register interest.
WeBS (Wetland Bird Survey)
A monthly survey of a coastal section or inland water, counting all waterbird species. Visit https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/wetland-bird-survey for more detail and to register interest.