Tisbury Natural History Society
  • Home
    • About the Society
    • Committee
  • Blog
  • Talks & Films
  • Field trips
  • Young Nature Watch
  • Resources
    • Wildlife identification and recording >
      • Local wildlife >
        • Local wildlife sites
        • Birds
        • Butterflies
        • Mammals
        • Wildflowers
      • Identification
      • Recording
      • Wildlife trail camera project
    • Other useful websites
    • Reading list
  • Contact us

Blog

WeBS and overwintering wildfowl (Focus - November)

1/11/2023

 
The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) is an environmental charity which aims to increase our knowledge of birds and other wildlife and, using data gathered by volunteers, seeks to inform decisions on government policy, land use and conservation priorities.

To do this, it organises a range of recording schemes through which volunteers gather data about birds’ numbers, distribution, habits, breeding success, and more. One of these schemes is the Wetland Birds Survey (WeBS) which counts the UK’s internationally important non-breeding waterbirds. This includes wildfowl (ducks, geese, and swans) waders, grebes, cormorants, and herons. Since it started in 1947 this scheme has grown and now over 3000 volunteers monitor 2,800 sites. Each volunteer adopts a location to count once a month, with the core counting season between September and March as this is when the numbers of many species peak.

The largest aggregations of waterbirds are at our estuaries. But inland lakes and wetland areas are favoured by certain species so cumulatively they also contribute. Locally, Fonthill Lake and Wardour Castle Lake are monitored, but as waterbirds can be very mobile, and one can often see wildfowl flying between these two areas, there is a risk of double counting. So, one Sunday a month is designated as the core count day, so that all counters can visit their sites on the same days. Records over decades for these sites show significant changes in the balance of species seen and their annual peak counts. Unfortunately, most of these changes show a downward trend.

Collecting all the information together from all sites across the country allows the BTO to generate indices and trends for each species. As many of the species that overwinter in the UK breed elsewhere, in Europe or the Arctic, changes in abundance relate to conditions across large parts of the world.

Monitoring these bird numbers help us to assess how wildlife populations are responding to environmental change. The efforts of all those volunteers contribute to documents such as the recently published State of Nature report which provides a benchmark for the current status of our wildlife. It doesn’t make happy reading, but one can be assured that it is based on the best data available.

Andrew Graham

Comments are closed.
    Photo: Avocets ​(Izzy Fry)

    ​The headers display photos taken by our members. Do get in touch via the Contact Form if you'd like to submit a photo for selection.
    Get our website news by email:
    Also go to our pages at:

    Facebook
    Instagram

    Archives

    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    August 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    October 2018

    Categories

    All
    Birds
    Butterflies & Moths
    Conservation & Biodiversity
    Field Trips
    Film
    Fish
    Focus Magazine
    Fungi
    Identification & Recording
    Insects & Molluscs
    Mammals
    Oysters Coppice
    Plants
    Special Events
    Surveys
    Swifts Project
    Talks
    Trees
    Wildlife Camera

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
    • About the Society
    • Committee
  • Blog
  • Talks & Films
  • Field trips
  • Young Nature Watch
  • Resources
    • Wildlife identification and recording >
      • Local wildlife >
        • Local wildlife sites
        • Birds
        • Butterflies
        • Mammals
        • Wildflowers
      • Identification
      • Recording
      • Wildlife trail camera project
    • Other useful websites
    • Reading list
  • Contact us