BTO Atlas

Everyone should be aware by now of the new BTO wintering and breeding bird atlas. It has had plenty of coverage on the TV and radio, and in magazines etc. We do need people to contribute their records, either through birdtrack, or the garden birdwatch, or directly to the Atlas itself.

In addition to general birdwatching records, there are "Timed Tetrad Visits" which are designed to give an idea of the relative abundance of common species across the country. You are not expected to see every species or every bird during your hour or two in the tetrad, but to simply count what you do see.

In Pembrokeshire we need to survey about 140 squares in this way, and to date have signed up volunteers for 52 of them. You can sign up for a tetrad now, or preferably four tetrads to be done over the four years.

Full details are on the BTO website www.bto.org/birdatlas

We've been looking at other counties, and Pembrokeshire is way behind in terms of the proportion of tetrads signed up and the number that have already had their first visits. Also, coverage by casual records seems relatively low, so please help us catch up at least by putting your records into birdtrack.