New Page 2

Mrs A. Judith Smith, 12 Edge Green Street, Ashton-in-Makerfield, Wigan WN4 8SL Tel. 01942 712615 Email: judith@gmbirds.freeserve.co.uk

IF YOU CAN ONLY DO ONE SURVEY, THIS IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT CONTRIBUTION YOU CAN MAKE TO NATIONAL RECORDING AND CONSERVATION.

The BBS is an annual survey that monitors the breeding populations of more than 100 widespread bird species in the UK. 3799 randomly selected 1km squares distributed throughout the UK are available to be surveyed.

Method: 3 visits initially, the first to make a recce of the site, set up counting routes and record habitat details (this visit may not be necessary in successive years if there is no habitat change), The remaining 2 morning visits are carried out between early April and late June to record all birds and mammals seen and heard along the 2, 1km transect lines (usually 2-3 hours each visit). Visits must be a month apart.

Skill level: Observers must have a good knowledge of the songs and calls of most widespread bird species. A free tape or CD is available for new BBS observers and an additional tape/CD for upland observers (below).

Local involvement: at present there are 83 squares in the BTO Manchester region.

SD7619 (Holcombe Rifle Range)

SD7814 (Holcombe Brook)

SD8090 (Northern Moor)

If you are interested, please contact Judith Smith on 01942 712615. Have a look at the count summary on the BTO web page at www.bto.org/bbs/results/index.htm

All known heronries are counted annually by regular observers, but this is an expanding species and if you know of a new heronry then please contact the BTO Regional Representative (see below) so that it can be registered.

All vacant heronries requiring counters have now been filled- thank's for your support!

The Census involves 2 or 3 visits to count nests during the breeding season, which for Herons can be quite early. Please contact Steve Suttill if you can help on, Tel. 01457 836360. Email: steve@marctheprinters.org (work) or suttill.parkinson@virgin.net

Logging information about nests found, number of eggs and nestlings observed. Contact: Carl Barimore (Nest Records Officer). carl.barimore@bto.org.

Nest recorders monitor the breeding attempts of one or more species on defined monitoring plots, ideally all breeding attempts of the study should be recorded. The main difference from the nest recording will be that the plot covered will be kept constant form year to year and that habitat data, search effort (e.g. numbers of hours in the field) and a count of the number of pairs present of each study species would be required. Contact: Dave Leech at BTO HQ (address above)

Observers make BBS-style (see above) transect visits (but of 500meters rather than 200meters) to randomly selected stretches of waterway throughout the UK; data for other stretches are only required if they are also covered by WBS observers, who will generally work independently.

Year round nationwide survey of birds in gardens using weekly logs of birds seen. Each participant also supports the project financially though an annual contribution of £12 for which they receive the quarterly colour magazine Bird Table, count forms, advise on feeding and attracting garden birds. All new joiners will receive a free copy of the 128 page BTO/CJ Garden BirdWatch Book.

This is an on-line bird recording scheme which follows on from Migration Watch. Unlike it's predecessor, BirdTrack uses data from your observations all year round. You can use BirdTrack to store your own records and at the same time contribute to a national collection of data on bird numbers and movements. Any of your bird records can be submitted (not just rare and scarce species) but of greatest value are complete lists of birds seen at sites you watch regularly.

BirdTrack is still in the process of development and County Bird Recorders will be able to access all records submitted for their area (if you have consented to this, which I would urge you to do so). However it is probably best to inform County Recorder Judith Smith, when sending her your records, if you have also sent the data to BirdTrack. Contact: www.birdtrack.net

Monthly counts of waders and wildfowl on lakes, rivers and other wetlands in the county of Greater Manchester, September to March.

To take part, contact the WeBS Organiser: Adrian Dancy, Flat 5, Kensington Court, Bury New Road, Salford M7 4WU Tel. 0161 278 5381 Email: a.dancy@ntlworld.com