Breeding Bird Survey (BBS)

As a young conservationist and birder, I'm always keen to get involved in survey or recording that helps us to monitor the impact we are having on the natural world. This year (as well as all the other surveys I do) I decided to take on my first Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) square in the Winsford area of Cheshire. 

A BBS square is randomly selected in any area of the UK. Whether it's an urban or rural location, both regions supply valuable information on breeding birds throughout the UK. The survey involves the recorder walking early in the morning two transect lines across the 1km square either running north-south or east-west on two occasions. The first visit being between early April - mid May and the second visit, which must be a minimum of 4 weeks later, around mid May/late June.

The transects have to be a suitable distance from each other to ensure that, whilst walking each transect, you don't record the same bird twice. The transect is split into 5 x 200m zones and all adult birds seen or heard in these sections get recorded. Listening for songs and calls helps so much with identifying species accurately.

My particular BBS square is a mix of semi rural and urban environments.  The first transect involved me strolling through a huge wheat field whilst the second was alongside a road through a small village. 

The week before doing the survey, I made sure that I had introduced myself to the land owner and got his permission to walk through the field. I will also make sure that the results are fed back to him too.

It was amazing to be surrounded by the song of skylark and witness foraging yellow wagtail in the wheat field as the sun was rising. On the other hand though, through the village, it was fantastic to walk alongside hedgerows containing numerous singing whitethroat.

Overall I recorded a total of 22 species in my survey square; it was certainly impressive to see the variety of species present and in some cases the quantity of them. My BBS square is 10 minutes away, yet I discovered some breeding species, such as the yellow wagtail, that I didn't even know were present. All in all a very enjoyable learning experience whilst contributing to science at the same time.

I would encourage each and everyone of you to consider carrying out a BBS square, as, for yourself you begin to build a picture of what species are breeding on that site, and on a wider scale you help contribute to our understanding of breeding population densities around the United Kingdom. Find out how you can get involved by clicking here.