New season starts

Some time since I put pen to paper, and a busy time too. Eleven days gone and ten tetrads have had their first survey- well done to start early. 102 computer entry tetrads to go, if my files are right, as there are still 15 tetrads without an observer.
It is a very good idea to go the first winter survey in November- it prevents last minute panic in bad weather. The figure that will be used for the tetrad is the maximum for each species of the two counts, so that things missed in November should be spotted in January.
Almost all the breeding season results are in- still waiting for one or two!- with these overall results. 234 tetrads have been received, 132 076 birds were counted in 900 hours of observation at an average of 147 birds/hour. 157 species recorded of which 111 were breeding and 46 were migrants, summerers, or vagrants. Average species per tetrad was 38 and average maximum count per tetrad was 356.
Six species were breeding in all 19 10-km squares, another 23 in 18 squares, and a further 12 in 17 squares- ie 41 species were in effect universal. However there will be a lot of work to do in the summer upgrading species in every square to proved breeding status.

This winter I can see as records come in- expect a note of thanks.
I will try to update the blog weekly on a Monday in future.
Fairly soon "validation" of all previous records will start- so If I have a query about a record you will get an e-mail- please respond fast! There are very few I am worried about, but there will be some changes to breedings status.