Atlas day 1

What a splendid start. Some 6400 records counting over 60,000 birds were received by the BTO on the first day. The system that will allow me to review the local records is not yet in place, so I dont know how many Roving Recorder records have gone in. But every sighting of a species in a 10-km square can be logged in. I have recorded 33 species in ST57 so far.

I have done my first tetrad, and had young Feral Pigeons in a nest, so I hope that is the first breeding record in the Atlas! There are other species that breed through the year, Collared Dove and Wood Pigeon, and Owls start breeding very early- as do Ravens. In the past when it has been warm we have had Blackbirds nesting in late December. The system will accept breeding records during the winter, but will always flag them up and ask you to check you haven't made an error.