The instructions for the survey are shown below but can be downloaded by clicking here.

Submissions can be made via the BTO Atlas website or by entering data into an excel spreadsheet and e-mailing or posting it to Steve White or Bob Harris.

Winter Form

Breeding Form

With a couple of minor exceptions, the methodologies of the national and Lancashire surveys are identical.

Survey Instructions

Timed Tetrad Visits (TTV)

The BTO requires a minimum of two 1-hour visits to each surveyed tetrad during each season during which all birds seen or heard should be counted, although they would prefer two 2-hour visits where possible. If you choose to carry out two 2-hour visits, please read carefully the instructions on the TTV form.

We need to ensure that we fulfil the BTO’s minimum requirements in Lancashire but need to do rather more. Although it is not essential to carry out TTVs in all tetrads it would be very useful to do so.

Further visits to tetrads

The BTO minimum of two 1-hour visits is unlikely to be sufficient to identify and assess the breeding status of all species in each tetrad, although these will produce crucial data to enable the BTO to make comparisons with previous national atlas surveys.

Additional visits should concentrate on producing full species lists for each season and confirming breeding status rather than on counting birds. You should cover the full range of habitats in each tetrad.

The minimum requirement for the Lancashire survey is two 2-hour visits per season but there is no upper limit to the number of visits you can make – the more the better.

In addition to the BTO requirements we ask you to count some of the scarce breeders of the county (see below). Please note that, while the list might look long, in actual fact relatively few of these species will occur in any one tetrad.

Additional records

All records of birds seen anywhere in the county during winter (November to February) or summer (April to July) for the next four years will be used for the atlas surveys.

So, surveyors are also asked to submit records from outside their tetrads.

Population estimates

In addition to the timed counts, the BTO is asking surveyors to estimate the total number of birds they think are present in each tetrad. This is optional but we would encourage you to attempt this task for as many species as possible.

Please note that the BTO require counts (both for TTVs and population estimates) of individuals (excluding known juveniles).

In addition to this, we are asking surveyors in Lancashire to try to count the number of pairs of a selected list of scarce breeding species (see separate sheet).

We hope that this does not cause confusion. To take an example: if you are lucky enough see 3 male and 1 female Whinchats in your tetrad, this would be logged as 7 birds for the BTO’s purposes but probably just 3 pairs for Lancashire’s. Please do both.

SUBMITTING YOUR RECORDS

Please try to submit your breeding season (April to July) records before the end of August, and winter (November to February) records before the end of March each year.

Records can be submitted in three ways:

Timed Tetrad Visits (plus additional hours on the day of the TTV)

v  Online, directly onto the BTO website ‘Timed Tetrad Form’ at www.birdatlas.net

v  By post on the BTO ‘Timed Tetrad Form’ to your local or regional, who will pass them on to the BTO.

v  By email on the ‘Lancashire Tetrad Form’ to your local or regional, who will pass them on to the BTO.

Additional visits to your tetrad

v  Online, directly onto the BTO website ‘Roving Record Form’.

v  By email or post on the ‘Lancashire Tetrad Recording Form’ to your local or regional organiser, who will pass them on to the BTO.

Additional records from outside your tetrad

v  Online, directly onto the BTO website ‘Roving Record Form’.

v  By email or post on the ‘Lancashire Roving Records Form’ to your local or regional organiser, who will pass them on to the BTO.

Please note: the BTO only requires these records at the 10km square although submission at the tetrad level is optional.

In Lancashire we need ALL records at the tetrad level.

Recorders may find it easier to log ‘casual’ records as 6- or 4-figure grid references or by site name rather than work out which tetrad they refer to. In which case, please send them on the ‘Lancashire Additional Records Form’ to your local organiser or to the County Recorder, even if you are using the BTO website (which won’t accept full grid references) for the bulk of your recording.

Lancashire Count Species

The BTO will not be making use of counts of breeding pairs of scarce breeding species and they cannot be entered on the BTO website. So please send these:

v  By email or post on the ‘Lancashire Tetrad Recording Form’, to your local or regional organiser.

DON’T BE DAUNTED!

We realise that all these instruction sheets and forms may look more than a little confusing at first sight but the surveys are actually pretty straightforward.

The main information on how to carry out the surveys is contained in the BTO material.

If in doubt, contact your local or regional organiser.