Projects and surveys

Aims of the Group

The aims of the Projects and Surveys Group include the following:

a) To increase the knowledge of the county's birds, both for scientific and conservation purposes
b) To promote participation in survey work, both local and national
c) To coordinate the fieldwork of club members in order to produce effective results
d) To improve the fieldwork skills of participants
e) To publish the results of surveys

Winter Gull Roost Survey

January 2007
Over the past three winters we have successfully covered the areas allocated to us for a winter gull roost survey which takes place every 10 or 15 years. Given the importance of gulls in our area we intend to carry out this survey on an annual basis. The main effort will involve a single count to be carried out at each site around the third week of January.  Volunteers are needed and should send their names and the area or areas they are prepared to cover to the local contact below. 

Local contact: David Sowerbutts

Black-headed Gull (© S Fryer)

Winter Atlas 10-km Survey

November 2006 to February 2007
From 2007 to 2011 fieldwork will be taking place for a new national atlas, to be produced by the B.T.O. During the winter of 2005/06 we took part in a Pilot Project to test the methods for winter surveying, obtaining a set of interesting results for square NZ14 (Lanchester). This year the B.T.O. is not requesting any additional pilot work, but the Club has decided to use similar methods to investigate another under-recorded square - NZ12 (including Staindrop, Cockfield, Toft Hill, Etherley, West Auckland, Evenwood, Bolam and Ingleton). Additional volunteers are needed to undertake either one of two types of survey -

a) as "roving recorders", spending as much time as they wish in the 10-km square, listing which species are seen and in which tetrads, to provide information on the species diversity in the square;

b) as "timed tetrad surveyors". The 10-km square is made up of 25 tetrads (2km by 2km squares) and the aim is to spend about two hours moving around each tetrad and counting the birds of each species seen or heard in each of the 20-minute periods during this time. This should give raw data for assessing both the density and distribution of each species. Ideally each tetrad should be visited once before the end of the year and once after. 

Local contact: David Sowerbutts

Stonechat (© I Forrest)

Durham Long-eared Owl Survey