Mid summer

All the paper records for the winter have been loaded on to the system and you can see the excellent start we made. 249 tetrads received both counts. So Far 160 have had first counts in the breeding season and 40 have had second. It is interesting to compare distribution recorded so far with that in the last breeding atlas. Of course comparing 40 tetrads with the 394 we surveyed in full last time does not give accurate results, but on first indications most species (77%) have an increased distribution, which is caused in part by the fact that the period of observation is double what it was last time, ensuring that the less common species are more likely to be recorded, and giving thus a more realistic impression of distribution.
As there are lots of fledglings around, please make sure that you record any that you see on the second visit with the status as FL. Some 10-km squares still have rather low proportion of confirmed breeding records. It is also a good time of year to make a Nocturnal visit- for Nightjars or Owls; every 10km square opught to have one, and we will do more on this next year when we know what has been missed. They should be entered as Roving Records, and if a nocturnal; visit is made and records nothing this should be noted as well.