Cambridgeshire Bird Club Research
Committee
Responsible for coordinating surveys across the
county that
are relevant to the CBC aims, and for providing written and verbal
reports on the projects through Club publications and meetings.
Recent projects:
2002 Yellow Wagtails nesting
preferences amongst crops in Cambridgeshire.
A full write-up of this survey by Bill Jordan appeared in the Annual
report for 2002 (published Dec 2003).
2003 Scarce woodland bird survey
Around 60 woods across the county were surveyed for Willow Tit, Marsh
Tit, Lesser Spotted Woodpecker, Nightingale and Woodcock.
This survey found that we may well have lost Willow Tit as a breeding
species in the county, but that many of the woods surveyed held Marsh
Tit. Nightingale has become a bird of the gravel pits and
other
willow woods/scrub, and Woodcock were restricted to either very large
woods or again, wetter sites. Lesser Spotted Woodpecker was
the
other species with much cause for concern, with only a few woodlands
holding this increasingly scarce species.
A full write-up of this survey appeared in the Annual report for 2003
(published Dec 2004).
2004 - 2006 Breeding Owls
A county-wide, 10km-square based survey for all owl species.
Surveyors covered much of the county for the presence of owls during
the breeding season. We did this survey partly on the basis
that
the forthcoming full breeding atlas would not fully address
owls due to the methods
employed.
This survey has been very successful, and a full write-up will appear
in the Annual report for 2006, to be published Dec 2007.
2006 Swifts in Cambridge City
A follow-up survey to the City Greenways survey in 2001 to locate
breeding Common Swifts within the city, with partial success.
We aim to repeat this survey within the next couple of years.
A
full write-up appeared in the Annual report for 2006, published Dec
2007.
2008
Screaming Swifts in Cambridgeshire Survey
People
were asked to record the
location of low-level screaming Swifts, as well as known colony
locations. These locations have been plotted on this Google
Map.
This
map will continue to be developed in future years.
2007 – 2011. The British
Trust for Ornithology National
Breeding Atlas and Wintering Atlas project. As a
Club, we have decided to co-operate with BTO on this
project, and alongside Peterborough
Bird Club expand this project within the
county. More details available here.
Our survey programme relies on the participation of Club members and
other local birdwatchers. We always welcome input from Club
members on project ideas and to help with projects in development or
underway.
The CBC Research Committee currently consists of Louise Bacon, Peter
Herkenrath, Duncan Poyser and Doug Radford. We can be
contacted at cambsbirdatlas@btinternet.com