crowes webs-news-070418.qxp 18/4/07 8:37 pm … · (black-tailed godwit), nick borrow (ringed...

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WeBS Online Is Here!At long last, we are pleased to announce that WeBS Online is operational. This newsystem allows any counter with access to the internet to enter their WeBS counts them-selves, removing the need for them to use the paper forms. Moreover, WeBS Onlineallows users access to past counts for their sites. Counters can also see maps of theircount section boundaries.

However, as we have stressed before, we would like to make clear tocounters that use of WeBS Online is not compulsory. Whilst we areobviously keen that as many counters as possible benefit from the

advantages of the new system, we are fully aware that some counters willhave no desire to use WeBS Online and would prefer to continue to use thepaper forms. This is fine and we envisage receiving paper forms for manyyears to come. Just let your Local Organiser know whether to expect paperor online returns from you.

Getting startedYour way into WeBS Online is throughthe new WeBS homepage atwww.bto.org/webs. Click on ‘Registerto use WeBS Online’. There are twoparts to the registration, one of whichis general to all users of BTO onlinesurveys, the other being specific toWeBS.

You should now be at a page calledRegister for WeBS Online. You havetwo options here, depending uponwhether or not you already use any ofthe BTO’s other online surveys (suchas BirdTrack, Breeding Bird SurveyOnline or Garden BirdWatch Online). Ifyou are an existing online user, clickon the lower of the two ‘RegisterHere’ options (and skip the nextsection of these instructions).

Users completely new to onlinesurveys

If you are totally new to BTO onlinesurveys, click on the upper of the two‘Register Here’ options to get to theRegistration form. On this page,please enter your name and contactdetails. We then ask a few extra ques-tions, such as whether we can sendyour records and details onwards tocounty recorders. Once you’ve readthrough these, click on ‘Submit myregistration’.

You will then be presented with asuggested username. You can change

this if you wish, so long as you choosea unique username (you’ll beprompted if the one you choosealready exists). You will then also beasked to enter a password. This pass-word needs to be at least sixcharacters long and it is case-sensitive(i.e. 2gh4jjss is not the same as2gH4jJSs). Tips on choosing pass-words are available on the page, butplease don’t use any passwords youalready use for internet banking orsimilarly sensitive ones. You need toremember this username and pass-word to be able to use WeBS Online,although we can send you reminders ifnecessary.

Survey Home

If you’ve completed the above registra-tion steps, or if you were already anexisting online user, you should nowhave reached a page entitled Surveyhome. On this page you will see a listof available online surveys you canparticipate in. You should, as anexisting WeBS counter, see a greyWeBS bar at the bottom of the list (ifyou don’t see this, please contact us [email protected]). Please click on‘Setup’ to get to the WeBS Onlinesetup page.

You then have a few WeBS-specificterms and conditions to read throughand, assuming you’re happy withthem, tick the box and click the setupbutton. You are now ready to start!

Continued on page 2

CONTENTS

WeBS online is here! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

Editorial . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2

Little Ringed and Ringed Plover Breeding Survey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5

New international waterbird population estimates and international 1% thresholds . . . . . . . . .6

NEWS news . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..7

Bird Atlas 2007-11.How you can help? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..8

Wetland Bird Survey Low Tide Counts: Update . . . . . . . . . ..9

Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10

LO LO LO! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11

WeBS Alerts: waterbird trends onprotected areas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Waterbirds around the World . . . . . .13

WeBS data and the Suffolk H5N1 avian influenza outbreak . . . . . . . . . . .14

Yellow-legged Gulls . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

Other News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .16

Who’s who within the WeBS Team . .16

Newsletter of the Wetland Bird Survey

Issue no. 23 Spring 2007

WeBS NewsWeBS

CROWES WeBS-News-070418.qxp 18/4/07 8:37 pm

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Once you’re a registereduser…Following registration you will get sentstraight into WeBS Online. On subse-quent visits simply go to the WeBShome page at www.bto.org/webs andclick on ‘Login to WeBS Online’ fromthe options on the left-hand side of thepage. You may need to enter your user-name and password to login to thesystem, although if you have ‘cookies’enabled then your username and pass-word may be stored on your own PC.

When you go into WeBS Online,you will find yourself at a page calledWeBS Data Home. From here, you canaccess all the different functions ofWeBS Online that are available to you.The following instructions aim to coverthe main features, but note thatinstructions are also accessible onlinefrom this page. Most counters will havethe same set of options open to them.However WeBS Local Organisers haveadditional functions to manage theirlocal teams of counters, and canreview any counts being submittedonline by their counters. Additionally,Local Organisers are able to input

counts for any of the sections in theirarea.

Entering your counts onWeBS OnlineFor standard WeBS counts, click on‘Core & LT Count Entry’. First you willbe asked to record the visit details forthe count. Select the count section atwhich you recorded the count. If youwant to record a count for a site thatdoes not appear on the drop-down listthen please contact the WeBS Office.The date of the count must also berecorded and, ideally, the approximatestart and end time, as well as ice coverand (for coastal sites) tidal state.Importantly, if you feel that your countdid not accurately represent the truenumber of birds present, please recorda count accuracy of ‘Low’ and tell uswhy this was. There is also a facility torecord additional details (e.g. addi-tional counters, flooding, etc). Onceyou have completed this page, pleaseclick ‘Continue & record observa-tion’.

If you are entering the first/onlycount for a site for a month (which willusually be the case), then this countwill be treated as the “primary” countfor that month. However, if you wish to

W ell, it’s been another inter-esting winter. Who couldhave predicted that three

new waterbird species for Britainwould turn up in just a few months.First was the somewhat surreal Long-billed Murrelet bobbing around offDawlish, followed by a rather lessobliging Glaucous-winged Gull aroundthe Bristol Channel and then not onebut three Pacific Divers. It looks like weneed to add some new species to ourdatabases. It has been suggested thatthe occurrence of these Pacificspecies could be connected with thereduction in the extent of the polaricecap allowing movements from theBering Strait eastwards across the topof Canada and hence into the Atlantic.Whatever the truth, we live in inter-esting (if disturbing) times. As WeBScounters, we are providing informa-tion of fundamental importance indescribing changes in distributions ofour waterbirds, the more numerousspecies as well as the rarer ones.

The big WeBS news of the momentis that WeBS Online is now live. After along time in the planning and testing,we are now confident we have asystem which works well. Even beforepublication of this newsletter,numbers of users have been creepingup slowly and the 1000th online WeBSvisit has just been entered. Sites so farentered online are spread from Kent toArgyll, with particularly good coveragealready from Cambridgeshire,Renfrewshire and the Duddon Estuary(the first big estuary to go 100%online). Whilst use of WeBS Online isby no means compulsory, we lookforward with interest to seeing howmany of you take it up, perhapsentering data from notebooks from the2006-07 winter into the system, orperhaps starting this coming autumn.However you send us your counts,though, we remain extremely gratefulfor all your hard work and thank youall once again.

Andy Musgrove

WeBS contacts

Andy Musgrove WeBS National [email protected]

Mark Collier WeBS National Organiser(Core Counts)

[email protected] Banks WeBS National Organiser

(Low Tide Counts)[email protected]

Newsletter contributors

Graham Austin is the WeBS Database Manager at [email protected]

Helen Baker is an Ornithological Advisor at [email protected]

Niall Burton is a Research Ecologist at [email protected]

Greg Conway is a Research Ecologist at [email protected]

Simon Gillings is a Research Ecologist at [email protected]

Richard Hearn is a Senior Project Officer(Waterbird Monitoring) at WWT

[email protected] Maclean is a Research Ecologist at BTO

[email protected] Stroud is the Senior Ornithologist at JNCC

[email protected] Coombes & Heidi Mellan have been jointly

responsible for this issue of WeBS News. Heidi is theWeBS Office Secretary [email protected]

Information in this Newsletter is compiled from avariety of sources and does not necessarily reflectthe views of the WeBS partner organization

Cover photograph by Rachel CoombesLine drawings: from the BTO Collection

(Black-tailed Godwit), Nick Borrow (Ringed Plover),Andy Murray (White-fronted Goose)

Designed by Rachel CoombesTypeset and laid out by

Eng-Li Green, Arizona, USAPrinted by Crowes Complete Print, Norwich

Printed on Barbican Laser Matt paper in Cheltenham ITC BT and M Gill Sans fonts

Published by BTO/WWT/RSPB/JNCC©BTO 2007

The Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS) is the monitoringscheme for non-breeding waterbirds in the UK whichaims to provide the principal data for the conservationof their populations and wetland habitats. The datacollected are used to assess the size of waterbird popu-lations, assess trends in numbers and distribution andidentify and monitor important sites for waterbirds. Aprogramme of research underpins these objectives.Continuing a tradition begun in 1947, around 3,000volunteer counters participate in synchronised monthlycounts at wetlands of all habitat types, mainly during thewinter period.WeBS is a partnership between the BritishTrust for Ornithology, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust,Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the JointNature Conservation Committee (the last on behalf ofthe Countryside Council for Wales, English Nature,Scottish Natural Heritage and the Environment &Heritage Service in Northern Ireland).

BTOThe Nunnery,Thetford,

Norfolk IP24 2PUT 01842 750050F 01842 750030W www.bto.org

RSPBThe Lodge, Sandy,

Bedfordshire SG19 2DLT 01767 680551

W www.rspb.org.uk

WWTSlimbridge,

Gloucestershire GL2 7BTT 01453 891900F 01453 890901

W www.wwt.org.uk

JNCCMonkstone House, City Road,

Peterborough PE1 1JYT 01733 562626

W www.jncc.gov.uk

EditorialEditorial

WeBS Online is Here….continued from page 1


add subsequent counts within a givenmonth, you will be given the opportu-nity to specify which should be treatedas the primary count.

You can then enter your speciescounts. The species you see on theform may vary depending upon youruser preferences. To reduce the size ofthe form you have to look through, wehave set WeBS Online to show youonly those species previously recordedat that site. However, we havecurrently set the system so that if thereare less than 20 species recorded for asite, you get the original full set ofspecies from the paper recordingform. This can be changed throughyour User preferences however.

To record your count, simply enterthe count of each species you saw inthe relevant box. If you recorded aspecies but were unable to make acount for some reason (e.g. insuffi-cient time, birds flushed before youcould count them, etc) then simplytick the ‘Present’ box (but please makea count wherever possible).

If you feel your count was a signif-icant underestimate of the numbersyou would have been able to countunder ideal conditions then please use[square brackets] to show this. Notehowever that if you have recorded anapproximate count (e.g. circa 1500Dunlin) then this does not need anybrackets or additional notation.

If you do want to record anyspecific comments about a particularspecies then there is a comments box

to click on against each species.Important: If you visit your sectionand see no wildfowl or waders thenplease tick the box at the top to say“NO waterbirds were present”.

Gulls and terns are included asseparate groups. As has been the casewith WeBS in the past, recording ofthese groups is optional, but we wouldencourage all WeBS counters to countgulls and terns unless they have aparticularly good reason not to do so.Approximate counts or even just a‘present’ tick are better than no countsat all.

Important: if you have recordedno gulls or terns, it is crucial that wecan determine whether a) thesebirds were truly absent, or b) thesebirds may have been present butyou weren’t recording them.

To do this, if you are happy torecord gulls and terns but encounternone during your count then pleasetick the box at the top of each sectionto say “NO gulls/terns were present”.

If you come across a species not onthe main list, simply scroll through thelist of additional species at the bottomto find the species you want. It willthen appear on the right-hand sidewhere you can enter the numberpresent.

Once you’ve finished entering thecounts, click on ‘Submit SpeciesDetails’. This will take you to a valida-tion page, where a summary of yourentered counts is shown for you tolook at and make sure you haven’t

typed in a count for the wrong species,or added an extra zero to a number bymistake. To try to help you spotinputting errors, you will sometimesbe prompted by comments about thespecies, the numbers recorded or thedate. These suggestions are an advi-sory check only and can often bedisregarded. However, they shouldhopefully reduce the number of mid-winter Little Ringed Plover records thatshould have been entered in theRinged Plover box!

From the validation page, you caneither go back to make any correctionsor else click on ‘Confirm species list’if you are happy with what you haveentered and would like it to be storedin the online database.

Submitting Casual and RoostCounts

From the WeBS Data home, the optionto submit ‘Casual & Roost counts’ is forwhen counts of some species havebeen made, but not necessarily all.Examples could be an evening gullroost count, or daily counts ofWhimbrels at key passage sites. Suchadditional information can be of greatuse in supplementing the main counts.NOTE however that if you want tosubmit a second complete count (allspecies recorded) for a month, thisshould be done by clicking on ‘Core &LT Count Entry’.

When submitting casual/roostcounts, there are only two differences

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compared to the submission of stan-dard counts. Firstly, you are asked tospecify whether you are entering acasual daytime count, or a specificallytargeted roost count (either dawn ordusk – enter the count times for us toknow which). Secondly, you will seeno pre-selected species names, butinstead need to select any individualspecies concerned from the drop-down box.

Viewing and editing pastrecords

By clicking on ‘View/edit submis-sions’ counters will see a list of theirsites.

Clicking on each site will then bringup a list of all the visits made to thatsite.A graph of the number of submis-sions per WeBS year is also shown atthe top of the page. By clicking on thevisit, counters can view that count inmore detail.

If you happen to carry out a corecount of a section of a larger site, thenyou will also be able to view theconsolidated total counts for the largersite. These totals are calculated annu-ally, once data for all sections havebeen received (from online and paperform submissions), so you will not beable to see consolidated totals for themost recent year.

For individual count sections, youwill be able to edit or delete a countonly if a) you are the counter whomade the count, and b) if the counthas only been entered recently and

has not been uploaded to the mainWeBS database for combining withpaper-based submissions. If the recordis editable, the relevant buttons areshown at the top of the page. If youcan’t edit a count, but notice an error,you can click on a link to send anemail to the WeBS Team.

There are two main elements tothe editing facility (aside from deletinga count entirely). Firstly, the visitdetails can be altered individually (e.g.if the location or date were enteredincorrectly). Secondly, the speciescounts can be altered (e.g. if thespecies or numbers were enteredincorrectly). The BTO keeps a track ofall edited or deleted data in case ofmishaps.

Viewing your sitesClicking on ‘View site details’ bringsup a list of all the sites you areconnected with, either throughcounting or viewing those counts aspart of ‘complex sites’. You can view aUK map showing the position of yoursites by using the ‘Google Maps’button. More usefully, you can look atthe boundaries of any of your countsites by clicking on the site codenumber next to the site name. This willshow the boundary of the sitedisplayed on a Google Maps backdrop,which can be viewed as a traditional‘road atlas’ type map, a satellite map,or a combination of both. The GoogleMaps can be zoomed in and out of,and panned around using the on-screen arrows and zoom tools.

Boundaries of sites shown inyellow indicate that the map is basedon information received from WeBScounters. For some sites, boundarieshave not yet been provided by coun-ters and in many of these instances anapproximate ‘best guess’ boundaryhas been provided; such approximatesite boundaries are displayed in red. IFYOU HAVE A SITE WITH A RED ORMISSING BOUNDARY THEN PLEASESEND A MAP OF THE CORRECTBOUNDARY TO THE WEBS OFFICE.

SummariesTwo facilities for summarising WeBSdata are available for counters. Thefirst, ‘Local site summaries’, providesthe ability to compare the counts for asite across a range of years, or monthswithin a particular year. Counters canalso compare different sites in thesame year or month, or combinationsof the two, using the ‘Compare sites’button.

The second option, ‘Search andDownload’, allows counters to interro-gate their data in any way they wish.They can select one or all sites, one orall species, and a variety of dates ordate ranges. The feedback willsummarise the data available, anddepending on the data returned, willprovide tabular results, graphs and theoption to download the result as aseparate file (e.g. for use in Excel orother packages).

Andy Musgrove


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During 2007, the BTO is organ-ising a UK-wide survey ofbreeding Little Ringed and

Ringed Plover. This will be the firstbreeding survey for these speciessince 1984.

The main objective of the survey isto obtain updated population esti-mates for the two species. Also, we areinterested in their current distribution,habitat associations and patterns ofco-occurrence.

The survey involves coverage of alarge number of sites, including keysites identified from the 1984 survey oroccupied subsequently. In addition, astratified selection of random inlandand coastal sample tetrads will need

to be covered to provide estimates ofthe number of plovers away fromthese key sites and thus ensurecompleteness of overall populationestimates.

There are over 7,000 tetrads acrossthe UK, which we would like to getcovered, so if you would like to surveya site in you area, we would be verygrateful for your help.

Field methods will involve up tothree site visits between mid-April andmid-July 2007 counting the number ofpairs / adults present.

Survey forms are available fromBTO Regional Representatives (RRs).Casual records from the breedingseason can be submitted onSupplementary Records forms alsoavailable from RRs or downloadablefrom the webpage, below.

Information about the survey sites,methods and species identification, aswell as contact details for your BTORegional Representative, can be foundon the BTO website(www.bto.org/goto/ ringplovers.htm).If you require any further information,please contact Greg Conway, BreedingPlover Survey Organiser, BTO, TheNunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU(E-mail: [email protected] Tel.:01842 750050).

Greg Conway & Niall Burton

. . . Surveys . . .. . . Surveys . . .

Little Ringed and Ringed Plover Breeding Survey 2007

PRIORITY CORECOUNT DATES2007—2008

15 July 2007

12 August 2007

16 September 2007

7 October 2007

11 November 2007

9 December 2007

13 January 2008

10 February 2008

9 March 2008

6 April 2008

18 May 2008

22 June 2008

2008—2009

20 July 2008

17 August 2008

14 September 2008

19 October 2008

16 November 2008

14 December 2008

Breeding GreatCrested GrebeSurvey 2007—POSTPONED

You may have read about the possi-bility of a breeding Great CrestedGrebe survey in spring 2007.Unfortunately, it was not possible tosecure sufficient funding to run thesurvey this year. The survey will bereconsidered once fieldwork for theforthcoming BTO Breeding andWintering Atlases has beencompleted.

Greg Conway & Niall Burton

Little Ringed Plover, photograph by Lawrence G Baxter


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A s WeBS counters, you shouldbe aware already of how valu-able your counts are for

directing conservation efforts at avariety of levels. As well as using yourcounts in a local or national context,WeBS counts form an important inputto the International Waterbird Census(IWC), run by our colleagues atWetlands International in TheNetherlands. Using counts fromaround the globe, WetlandsInternational have the daunting task ofcoming up with estimates of the inter-national population sizes of everywaterbird species in the world.Moreover, they break this down intoestimates for each readily recognisedpopulation (e.g. Dark-bellied BrentGeese rather than Brent Geese as awhole species). Such estimates areinteresting in many respects, but onepractical consequence of them is thatan international 1% threshold can bederived. This magic figure of 1% of theinternational population of a waterbirdhas direct conservation significance,as it is the basis on which protectedareas such as Special Protection Areasand Ramsar Sites are designated.

Such population estimates (andthus 1% levels) are not set in stone,and are regularly updated on the basison new surveys. Estimates may bechanged due to a real change in thenumbers of a given species, but alsowhere new information comes to lightthat was not known before. The latestset of updates has just been publishedas Waterbird Population Estimates –Fourth Edition (available fromWetlands International). Listed aboveare a selection of the most relevantpopulations for which the international1% threshold has changed.

These new estimates will be usedin the next WeBS annual report (2005-06) for determining which sites nowsupport internationally importantnumbers of each species.

Clearly, some populations haveincreased – the new threshold forislandica Black-tailed Godwits meansthat seven of the sites listed inWaterbirds in the UK 2004/05 asholding internationally importantwould, if numbers remain the same,no longer do so. The threshold whichhas changed most dramatically is thatfor Goldeneye, up from 4000 to 11500.The only site in the UK supportinginternationally important numbers ofGoldeneye in the past, Loughs Neagh& Beg, has a recent five-year peakmean of 5796.

Andy Musgrove

New international waterbird population estimatesand international 1% thresholds

Species Old 1% New 1%

Mute Swan (GB only) 380 320

Bewick's Swan 290 200

Pink-footed Goose 2400 2700

Greenland White-fronted Goose 300 270

Icelandic Greylag Goose 1000 870

NW Scotland Greylag Goose 90 100

Greenland Barnacle Goose 540 560

Svalbard Barnacle Goose 230 270

Dark-bellied Brent Goose 2200 2000

Nearctic Light-bellied Brent Goose 200 260

Svalbard Light-bellied Brent Goose 50 70

Teal 4000 5000

Eider 15500 12850

Goldeneye 4000 11500

Red-throated Diver 10000 3000

Great Crested Grebe 4800 3600

Slavonian Grebe 35 55

Shag 2400 2000

Black-tailed Godwit 350 470

Curlew 4200 8500

Redshank 1300 2800

Turnstone 1000 1500

Common Gull 17000 20000

Lesser Black-backed Gull 5300 5500

Herring Gull 13000 5900

Great Black-backed Gull 4700 4400

Little Tern 340 490Goldeneye, photograph by Jill Pakenham


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The Non-estuarine Waterbird Survey(NEWS) went ahead as planned between1st December 2006 and 31st January2007. This survey was largely organisedthrough the Wetland Bird Survey counternetwork and many thanks are due toeverybody who took part.

A s explained in last year’s WeBSnewsletter, whereas themonthly WeBS Core Counts

scheme does a superb job of moni-toring waterbird numbers on estuariesand inland water bodies, our routinecoverage of the open coast is rathersparse. Many of the open coaststretches that are monitored by WeBSCore Counts, are those adjacent toestuaries and a few honey-pot sites.From these data it is not possible tomake a reasonable assessment ofwaterbird numbers along the greaterpart of the open coast. To do this weneed to undertake more focusedsurveys and this past winter’s NEWSwas the third in a series of periodicsurveys that began in the winter of1984/85, as the Winter ShorebirdCount (WSC), and continued in1997/98 as NEWS. By retaining thesame count stretches originallydefined by counters back in 1985(were you one of those counters?) wewill be able to undertake relativelypowerful analyses of your data.

Without NEWS, our knowledge ofthe numbers and distributions ofspecies such as Ringed Plover,Sanderling, Purple Sandpiper, andTurnstone would be very incomplete,and there would be serious gaps in ourknowledge of Oystercatcher, Curlewand Redshank. Comparisons of1997/98 showed that there weresubstantial declines in numbers, and anorthern shift in distribution, of all fourof the open-coast specialists.Consequently, we have been eagerlyawaiting the arrival of your data, andlook forward to repeating theseanalyses, albeit with some apprehen-sion regarding what it may show.

Although many fieldworkers, espe-cially in Northern England and

Scotland, experienced some problemsdue to very poor weather conditions inlate December through to mid-January, your efforts weretremendous. At the time of writing(mid-March), survey returns are stillcoming in so we cannot report on thefinal coverage achieved, however abreakdown of survey returns to date isgiven below.

There were 7040 non-estuarinecount stretches originally defined forthe WSC and these cover virtually all ofthe accessible (and some not soaccessible!) non-estuarine coast in theUK. Forms for all these were sent outto local organisers, some of whommust have wondered how on earth weexpected them to get coverage of somany count stretches. Hopefully theirfears were allayed when they learnedthat, at minimum, only a sub-sampleof stretches needed to be covered.This notwithstanding, 100% coveragewas obtained from many areas – anamazing effort. While one alwayshesitates to pick out individuals, espe-

cially as we do not have all the formsback yet, I’m sure you will all acknowl-edge the supreme efforts of the teamsin Skye, Devon, Mull and Orkney withrespectively 124, 169, 355 and nearly500 (yes! 500) count stretches covered.

At the time of writing we havereceived 2645 completed forms andthis means that, for the regions thesecover, coverage is currently running at49.5%. This compares very favourablywith the coverage of 38% achieved in1997/98.

One last thing. If you enjoyed theopportunity to count waterbirds on theopen coast, and would considerrepeating visits to your NEWS countsections on a more regular basis thenwe would be delighted to receive yourcounts as part of the WeBS CoreCounts. You would not necessarilyneed to commit yourself to monthlyvisits, as even one visit per year wouldbe a vast improvement on one visitevery nine years.

Graham Austin

....NEWS News….….NEWS News….

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Northern Ireland 169 140 169 82.8%

Scotland 5274 1725 4055 42.5%

Wales 453 178 441 40.4%

England 1076 544 614 88.6%

Isle of Man 63 58 63 92.1%

Channel Islands 5 0 0 0.0%

Overall 7040 2645 5342 49.5%

Oystercatchers, photograph by Tommy Holden

Purple Sandpiper, photo by Tommy Holden


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Bird Atlas 2007-11—How You Can Help

Simply by continuing your WeBScounts you’ll be contributing tothe Bird Atlas as we will use your

records of waterbirds to help completethe distribution maps. This will beespecially interesting in winter when,for example, coastal WeBS records ofPink-footed Geese will be combinedwith those of Atlas surveyors on farm-land to gain a complete picture of theirwinter distribution. The map (inset 1)shows the distribution of Pink-footedGeese back in the early 1980s from thelast Winter Atlas. At that time therewere an estimated 101,000 in Britainand Ireland. Now there are over270,000! Where will they all be?

Of course you may see otherspecies of interest during your WeBScount that are not normally submittedvia WeBS – flocks of Twite on the coastor Sand Martin colonies at gravel pitsfor instance. We’d really appre-ciate these records and you cansubmit these interestingspecies via a ‘RovingRecords’ form. Formswill be circulated intime for fieldwork,or you’ll be able

to submit your records online atwww.birdatlas.net.

Distribution maps though are justpart of the Bird Atlas. We also aim toproduce relative abundance maps thatdepict the broad patterns of abun-dance, like that shown for SedgeWarbler (inset 2) – these revealdetailed patterns and offer thepotential to better under-stand how our activitiesaffect common birds.

Such maps are basedon Timed Tetrad Visitswhich comprise 1-houror 2-hour visits to 2km˘ 2km squares(“tetrads”) – a pairof visits duringwinter and a pairof visits during

the breeding season to count allspecies present.

So why not kill two surveys withone visit and do a Timed Tetrad Visitalongside your WeBS count.

Or take on a different tetrad if youwant a change of scene. Your AtlasRegional Organiser can tell you whichtetrads are available. To contact yourRO visit www.birdatlas.net or speakto Dawn Balmer, the AtlasCoordinator, at BTO HQ (01842750050, [email protected]).

Simon Gillings

November 1st 2007 is a big date. It sees the start of Bird Atlas 2007-11 — an ambitious and important project to map all of Britainand Ireland’s birds in winter and the breeding season. Being over 20 years since the previous winter atlas and over 15 since the lastbreeding atlas this is an ideal time for a stock-take and you and WeBS can play a part in building up the picture of bird distributions.

Bird Atlas 2007-11—How You Can HelpBird Atlas 2007-11—How You Can Help

Map 2. Breeding distribution of Sedge Warbler from the 1988-91 breeding atlas.Colours ranging from White to Red indicate increasing relative abundance.

Map 1. Winter distribution of Pink-footed Goose from the 1981-84winter atlas. Increasing dot size indicates greater abundance


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T hose who keep a close eye onWeBS Low Tide Counts willhave noticed a couple of signif-

icant developments over the past yearor so. Firstly, the method of reportingsurvey results has been completelyrevamped for Waterbirds in the UK2004/05. The new-style site accountsnow show distributional changes inselected species, all in glorious colour(see Figure 1). The approach isdesigned not only to appear more eye-catching, but also to alert people tochanges that may be happening towaterbirds at their sites of interest.Secondly, during the winter of 2005-06,the whole of Morecambe Bay wassurveyed at low water for the first timeunder the WeBS scheme, a fantasticeffort by a combination of WeBS staffand volunteers working both on theground and from a small aircraft.

In total, 24 different sites weresurveyed in 2005-6, including the aerialsurvey of Morecambe Bay. Some inter-esting patterns were detected on thesites surveyed using the standardcount method; Figure 1 shows onesuch pattern for Wigeon on the MerseyEstuary. This species has triggered aHigh Alert from WeBS Core Counts,and the Low Tide Count pattern rein-forces the warning. Figure 1 illustratesthe distribution of Wigeon on theMersey in 1996-97 (blue dots) and2005-06 (red dots).

It is immediately evident that therehas been a retraction of the speciesfrom previously densely occupiedareas. In both winters, Wigeon weremost abundant along the south bankof the river, though densities in theearlier winter were far greater than in2005-6. Most of the sectors countedbetween Eastham and Runcorn held

Wigeon in high densities in 1996-7, butby the later winter many of thesesectors supported few, if any, birds. Onone sector of the marshes at InceBanks, Wigeon density has declinedfrom over 22 birds per hectare to acomplete absence of the species. Thepeak count of the sector at Eastham in1996-97 was recorded as 6,850, thehighest across the site; by 2005-6 thefigure was down to just 60.

Maps of this type will be producedfor all sites covered in 2005-6 andpublished in the forthcomingWaterbirds in the UK 2005/06.

As previously mentioned, an addi-tional aerial survey of Morecambe Baywas undertaken, which will also besummarised. Morecambe Bay issynonymous with Oystercatchers andholds more than any other individualsite in the UK, (approximately 50,000on average) . It is thus unsurprising

that at low water, the species waswidely distributed throughout. Mostareas of intertidal habitat supported atleast some Oystercatchers, with anotable exception in the mouth of theKent Estuary. Highest densities of thespecies were recorded in four areas:the area north of Morecambe knownas Warton Sands; the rocky ‘scars’,often covered with mussel beds, closeto the shore at Morecambe;Cockerham Sands at the mouth of theLune Estuary; and Newbiggin, on thewest shore. Although we found noformal relationship betweenOystercatcher and cockle density, (akey prey item), it seems that theseareas of high bird density are close tofeeding areas (such as mussel beds)and roost sites. It may be that birdsrecorded on these surveys hadfinished feeding by low tide, as localknowledge suggests thatOystercatcher begin foraging on raisedmussel beds as soon as the tiderecedes, leading the distribution toreflect some birds in resting or pre-roost areas.

Data will soon be received for 16sites covered in 2006-7, and then theprocess of organising counts for 2007-8will begin. As ever, WeBS is only asstrong as the people involved, soplease do contact the WeBS Office([email protected]) if you have time tocount one or more sectors once amonth between November andFebruary and would like to take part inthe scheme.

Alex BanksWeBS Low Tide Count National Organiser

Wetland Bird Survey Low Tide Counts: UpdateWetland Bird Survey Low Tide Counts: Update

Figure 1. Relative distribution of Wigeon on the Mersey Estuary.Red dots = 2005-06; Blue dots = 1996-97. Each dot represents five birds.

Figure 1. Relative distribution of Oystercatcher at Morecambe Bay from aerial surveys 2005-06.


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Monitoring highlights from2005/06

Most goose and swan popula-tions visiting the UK continueto thrive, although there are

some exceptions. The most prominentis the Greenland White-fronted Goose– a small and restricted range popula-tion that breeds in western Greenlandand winters in Ireland and westernBritain (primarily Scotland). It hasbeen closely studied for the past 25years and following concerted conser-vation efforts its conservation statusimproved considerably during the1980s and 1990s, peaking at just over35,000 birds in 1999/2000. However,since then there has been a reductionin the annual breeding success suchthat too few young birds are beingproduced to replace annual losses andas a consequence the population hasdeclined to around 25,000 in 2005/06.The most likely cause of this decreaseis an increase in the number of LesserCanada Geese in Greenland, leadingto the displacement of Whitefrontsfrom breeding areas. Surveys in 2005revealed a six-fold increase in non-breeding (probably moult migrant)Lesser Canada Geese since 1999.Although these are not introducedbirds, such as those in Britain, anthro-pogenic actions are likely to haveinfluenced this situation as it is likelythat, as with many other geese,numbers of Lesser Canada Geese areartificially high due to the improvedagricultural habitats available to thesebirds in their wintering quarters. On amore positive note, protection fromhunting was implemented in Icelandduring autumn 2006, where previouslyaround 3,000 Greenland Whitefrontswere taken annually; an importantcontribution to the conservation effortsneeded to protect this declining goose.

The other populations of someconcern are Dark-bellied Brent Gooseand Bewick’s Swan. The former hasdeclined by around one third in thepast 15 years, although numbersremain relatively high, at 200,000 birds,and reduced breeding success is alsothe primary cause of this decline. Thelatest International Swan Census inJanuary 2005 revealed that the numberof Bewick’s Swans wintering in the UKhas decreased by 5% since theprevious census in 2000. The greatestdecreases were in Ireland, wherenumbers in Northern Ireland and theRepublic of Ireland were reduced by62% and 39%, respectively. WeBScounts also indicate that this popula-tion has decreased in Great Britain,and counts from the Netherlands,where the majority of the rest of thepopulation overwinter, have alsodecreased. However, it remainsunclear to what extent these countsreflect a true decrease in numbers or aredistribution of birds to wintering siteselsewhere. In contrast, WhooperSwans in the UK increased by 26%between 2000 and 2005, with themajority of the increase in England.

Uncertainties over the status ofIceland Greylag Geese still persist.Recent Icelandic-breeding GooseCensuses (IGC) indicate that the

decline (of about 20%) during the1990s has ended, with numbers nowstable or possibly increasing again.Counts of 110,000 and 95,000 wererecorded during autumns 2004 and2005, respectively, the largest since thepeak in numbers during the early1990s. This is partly due to the highbreeding success experienced in theseyears; in 2004 an exceptional 28.2% ofthe population were goslings, and in2005 this was 22.7%. The average forthe past ten years is 18.3% and thesetwo years are the highest during thatperiod. Nevertheless, the increase innumbers cannot be accounted for bythis high breeding success alone, andcensusing difficulties associated withthe later migration of birds fromIceland and confusion with otherGreylag populations in the UKcontinue to hamper accurate popula-tion estimates.

Taiga Bean Geese continue toshow contrasting fortunes at the twoBritish wintering locations. At theformer stronghold in the Yare Valley,Norfolk, numbers remain low ataround 170. Although there have beensmall increases in numbers there forthe past three winters, this followed adecrease from almost 500 birds in theearly 1990s. In contrast, numbers at theSlamannan Plateau, near Falkirk,

Latest news from the Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme

The Goose & Swan Monitoring Programme (GSMP) consists of a suite of surveys monitoring the abundance, productivity and survivalof goose and swan populations in the UK. It operates in conjunction with partners in other countries that also support these species,whether during the breeding or wintering periods, or on migration, so as to provide flyway-wide assessments of conservation status.

Whooper Swan, photograph by Jill Pakenham

Brent Geese, photograph Paul Doherty


11

continue to increase, reaching 300 forthe first time in 2005/06. These twoflocks of birds also show very differentarrival and departure patterns, withthe Yare birds present for a muchshorter period each winter. It ispossible that these two groups arecompletely separate, with discretestaging and breeding areas inScandinavia. An increase in researchon this population in the next fewyears should provide a greater under-standing of how much exchange thereis between these two groups.

Barnacle Geese from both theSvalbard and Greenland populationscontinue to thrive, although recentrapid increases now seem to havestabilised, with around 27,000 and55,000 birds, respectively. Pink-footedGeese also continue to increase, withalmost 300,000 counted in 2004.

Around half of this number is nowfound in Norfolk during midwinter – adramatic change since the early 1990s,when just a few thousand occurredthere. This highlights how rapidlysome geese can alter their distributiongiven suitable conditions, and empha-sises the need for continuedmonitoring and adaptable approachesto their conservation. More surprisingchanges will no doubt unfold in thecoming years, and with the help of theGSMP counters these surveys willcontinue to underpin the conservationof these Arctic migrants.

Forthcoming surveysAnnual surveys such as the IGC andproductivity assessments will continueduring 2007/08, and new counters arerequired for most of these surveys.Two periodic censuses will take place

in 2008: the International Census ofGreenland Barnacle Geese is plannedfor the spring, and in the late summera complete census of the NorthwestScotland Greylag Goose populationwill take place. Counters are requiredfor this census and further announce-ments will be made during 2007.

Finally… Much more about the GSMP, includingthe latest issue of GooseNews, can befound on the WWT website atwww.wwt.org.uk/Research/Monitoring

Richard HearnProgramme Manager:Waterbird Monitoring

With around 3,000 birdwatcherscounting over 3,300 sites for WeBSeach year we at the WeBS Office areever grateful for the help of the WeBSLocal Organisers (LOs). The networkof around 150 Local Organisers is vitalin the smooth running of WeBS; actingas the main point of contact betweenourselves and you; the all-importantcounters. The main role of the LocalOrganiser is this contact between theWeBS Office and the counters, be itdistributing publications, issuing countforms or collecting completed formsamassed during the year this localcoordination has been crucial helpingWeBS grow to the size it is today.

Other tasks for the Local Organiserinclude ensuring continued coverageof key sites and, where possible,promoting WeBS through local groups.

Over the winter, some of our hard-working LO’s have decided to take awell-earned rest after years (in somecases, very many years!) of service toWeBS. We’d like to say thanks here toBob Treen (Duddon), Peter Allard(Breydon), Bill Edwards (Shropshire),Malcolm Ogilvie (Argyll), ChrisLowmass (Sussex), Anne de Potier(Chichester) and Geoff Siggens(Durham). In most cases, replacementLO’s have been found. However, wecurrently have a few vacancies forLocal Organisers in Warwickshire,Durham, East Lancashire & Fylde,Merseyside inland and SouthYorkshire. There are also a few regionsin Scotland that are also currentlywithout a Local Organiser. These

include Sutherland (excluding theMoray Basin), West Inverness/WesterRoss and in the Western Isles, Harris &Lewis.

One area where we are persistentlyshort of counters is Northern Ireland.We are always looking for new coun-ters in this area and are also short ofLocal Organisers. If you know ifanyone who might be interested ingetting involved with WeBS in thisregion then please spread the word.

To act as a Local Organiser youshould ideally live near to the regionconcerned, although more importantis to have a good knowledge of thearea.

We will be able to inform you of theWeBS sites in the region and to put youin touch with the counters. If youwould like more information about

becoming a Local Organiser thenplease contact the WeBS Office.

To help Local Organisers, andourselves at the WeBS Office, if youplan to retire from counting or aremoving away from an area please letus know as soon possible. The moretime we have to look for a newcounter to cover the site the better.Also, it is often useful if the newcounter can assist on a couple of thecounts to gain knowledge about thesite, both in terms of access and anyvantage points. Don’t forget if you aremoving to a new area and wish tocontinue WeBS then let us know andwe can put you in touch with the LocalOrganiser in your area

Mark Collier

LO LO LO!!


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WeBS Alerts

W eBS Alerts is an onlineinformation source thatallows users to check how

waterbird species are fairing inprotected areas. Government bodiessuch as JNCC use it, because thegovernment has a legal obligation tomonitor protected areas and ensurethey are maintained in a favourablestatus. If their status is unfavourable,the causes of declines must be identi-fied and remedial action taken. WeBSAlerts is updated periodically, and theupdated report, which covers thewinter of 2004/05 is now availableonline (see web address at bottom ofpage). The WeBS Alerts System wasdeveloped to provide a standardisedmethod of identifying the directionand magnitude of changes in birdnumbers at a variety of spatial andtemporal scales for a range of water-bird species. For each protected areamonitored by the Wetland Bird Surveyand for each waterbird species forwhich an area is designated, a statis-tical technique is used to smooth-outshort-term fluctuations in numbersand produce a trend line. Site trendsare then compared to regional andnational trends, allowing distinctionbetween declines due to site-specificfactors and those driven by large-scalepopulation changes. Species that haveundergone major declines can then beflagged by issuing an Alert.

Waterbird trendsA major conservation issue has beenhighlighted by this year’s Alerts report.Pintail numbers in the northwest ofEngland, particularly those winteringon the Mersey Estuary have declinedprecipitously. Almost 20,000 used toover-winter on the Mersey in the early1980s, but numbers have declined toabout 200. The site, which once hostedalmost half the UK population, now nolonger hosts even nationally importantnumbers of Pintail and similar declineshave occurred at neighbouring sites.There is some good news though. Last

year’s report highlighted the cata-strophic declines in diving ducksover-wintering on Loughs Neagh andBeg, but there is some evidence of arecovery. Goldeneye and Tufted Ducknumbers are slightly up on the winterof 2003/04 and Scaup numbers on thesite are higher than ever before.

The full report can be obtained bygoing to the following webpage:http://www.bto.org/webs/alerts/alerts/index.htm.

Ilya Maclean

WeBS Alerts: waterbird trends on protected areasHow are WeBS data used to help monitor the condition of protected areas?

Scaup, photograph by John Marchant

In the last 25 years, Pintail have decline catastrophically in the north-west of England, particularly on the Mersey Estuary


13

In the summer 2004 newsletter wegave you a brief update on theWaterbirds Around the World

conference, which had just takenplace in Edinburgh. It was a majorinternational gathering of the world’swaterbird experts, conservationistsand policy makers: over 450 delegatesfrom 90 countries took part, includingthe WeBS Partners. The conclusionfrom the conference was a globalstatement, called the EdinburghDeclaration, which calls for urgentaction on waterbird conservation andhighlights key issues. Information onan incredible 614 species in 162 coun-tries was presented to conference inthe form of 264 papers by 453 authorsfrom 59 countries. Of particular impor-tance was new information for 170Globally and Near Threatened species.Of course, the involvement of so manyexperts from around the world was thekey to the conference’s success, but itdid mean that publishing the proceed-ings would be an enormous task.Happily this happened on 12 March2007 and Waterbirds Around the Worldwas launched at a special event in theNetherlands.

Barry Gardiner MP, UK Minister ofBiodiversity, the Dutch Minister ofNature Mrs Gerda Verburg, SecretaryGenerals from the Convention onWetlands, the UN Convention onMigratory Species and the AfricanEurasian Waterbird Agreement(AEWA) were all present at the launch.

In his speech, Barry Gardiner said:"Globally biodiversity is disappearingat an alarming rate, and we cannotignore the significant role of climatechange. We need to conserve migra-tory waterbirds as they are underthreat. By investing in projects thatmonitor their populations, flying routesand habitats we hope to learn moreabout the impacts of climate changeworldwide.” He announced thatamong other actions the UKGovernment has committed a total of£176,000 to the following initiatives:identifying migratory species that canact as indicators of climate change, anOverseas Officer in the UK’s OverseasTerritories to help implement theAgreement on the Conservation ofAlbatrosses and Petrels (ACAP), andidentifying population trends and thespecies most at risk from the negativeimpacts of climate change (underAEWA).

The key message from WaterbirdsAround the World is that despite global

conservation efforts, waterbirds arebeing sidelined by economic develop-ment. Too few conservation measuresare currently being undertaken forglobally threatened species. As aresult, many wetlands of criticalimportance for long-distance migrantshave been degraded and many popu-lations of birds are disappearing. Thisis not only because of the loss anddegradation of wetlands, but also theimpacts of pollution and unsustainablehunting.

To address declines in waterbirds,the overall priority is for inter-sectoralaction to halt and reverse the loss anddegradation of wetlands. By using a“flyway approach”, wetland conserva-tion will contribute to the survival ofwaterbirds as well as to people’s liveli-hoods. Currently, most majorinfrastructure developments takeplace in ignorance of these implica-tions and many have a flyway-wideimpact. International action is tooweak or un-coordinated and the rangeof wetland services and values arelargely ignored in planning processes.This is leading to further cycles ofwetland degradation, poverty andspecies loss.

The three main priorities forincreased global action on flywaysare: taking action to safeguardwetlands and waterbirds; improvinginternational collaboration; and,improving the knowledge-base tounderpin action.

In the UK we have a pretty goodrecord on all of these priorities, withWeBS playing a key role in allowing usto protect wetlands, detect declines inspecies, set and share internationallyrespected standards and, through itsresearch element, give us crucialevidence for understanding pressureslike climate change. Five of the papersin the book relate directly to WeBS andseveral others relied on WeBS data toprovide wider context for specificstudies.

Waterbirds Around the World isavailable to purchase in hardbackfrom TSO (www.tsoshop.co.uk) or youcan browse through the entire publica-tion on the JNCC website(www.jncc.gov/worldwaterbirds).

Boere. G.C., Galbraith, C.A. &Stroud, D.A. (eds). 2006. Waterbirdsaround the world. TSO Scotland Ltd.,Edinburgh, UK. 940 pp. ISBN 10:0114973334

David Stroud & Helen Baker

Waterbirds Around The WorldGround-breaking book on the plight of the world’s waterbirds published March 2007

Glaciers in Greenland, photograph by David Stroud


14

W eBS counters, unless theyhave been living in a cavefor the last few months,

will have followed the outbreak ofhighly pathogenic H5N1 avianinfluenza in Suffolk with interest. Thisdisease is still mostly found in south-east Asia, but it spread more widelyacross the world since summer 2005.In the winter of 2005-06, there were anumber of cases in wild birds inEurope, including the Whooper Swanfound dead on the beach atCellardyke, Fife, in April 2006.

Following extensive discussionsand contigency planning over theprevious 18 months, ornithologistsfrom all of the WeBS partner organisa-tions were ready to advise the NationalEmergency Epidemiological Group atDefra on the potential for the involve-ment of wild birds in the outbreak at apoultry plant at Holton in Suffolk.Additionally, several members of BTOstaff attended the plant and were ableto advise on the use of the site madeby wild birds around both the rearingsheds and the adjacent abbatoir andmeat-processing plant.

The immediate questions asked ofornithologists concerned the proximityof concentrations of waterbirds toHolton, any patterns of recent immi-gration into the area from mainlandEurope, and whether any unusualmortality had been observed in thesurrounding area. WeBS data were ofof particular use for helping to answerthe first question. The map above

shows WeBS count sections within 10km of the outbreak site. Obviously, thekey site in the area is the Blyth Estuary,which supports about 15,000 winteringwaders and wildfowl. In addition,there are large numbers of gulls usingthe estuary. Discussions with localbirdwatchers, and additional fieldworkimmediately following the outbreak,confirmed that many of the gulls at theBlyth make use of nearby pig farmsduring the day, but that many others

arrive in the late afternoon from acrossa wide area of north-east Suffolk.Fieldwork confirmed that any gullmovement in the vicinity of the Holtonplant in the afternoon was consistentwith birds moving east towards a roosteither on the Blyth Estuary, or on thesea off Southwold.

Information from several of ourcounters in the area gave us no reasonto believe that there had been asubstantial cold-weather influx intoEast Anglia in the weeks leading up tothe outbreak. For example, numbers ofBewick’s Swans on the Ouse Washeswere substantially lower than seen inprevious winters. Moreover, since theautumn of 2006, areas with largeconcentrations of waterbirds wereidentified for Defra by analysis ofWeBS counts. Where possible, visualinspections had been made at many ofthese on a regular basis, often byreserve wardens, in order to look forunusual levels of mortality whichmight suggest the virus being intro-duced into an area by wild birds.Despite this heightened level ofsurveillance, no wild birds have beenfound with H5N1 in Britain during the2006-07 winter (at the time of writing).Moreover, no cases in wild birds havebeen detected anywhere in westernEurope this winter.

Our advice, therefore, was that itseemed highly unlikely that this virushad been introduced to the site by wildbirds. Simultaneously, other scientistswere investigating the molecular

WeBS data and the Suffolk H5N1 avian influenza outbreak

WeBS sites in the vicinity of the Holton H5N1 outbreak site.

Black-headed Gulls on roof on a poultry shed. Photograph by Andy Musgrove


15

genetics of the virus at the site, whichappeared to corroborate this opinion.This rapid combination of ornitholog-ical and virological evidence was ofgreat value to the team at Defra inves-tigating the epidemiology of theoutbreak, although the media revertedto type and started blaming wild birdsbefore waiting for any evidence.However, as further evidence emergedinto the public domain it was gratifyingto see the consensus swing the otherway. At the time of writing, investiga-

tions are still ongoing but the interimepidemiological report suggest that itappears most likely that the virus wasintroduced from overseas by humanmeans to the processing plant, andthat hygiene practices at the plant ledto the potential for the virus to betransported the short distance to thepoultry rearing sheds.

Worryingly, it remains possible thatwild birds in the vicinity of Holton havebeen infected with H5N1 as a result ofthese lapses although to date, thank-

fully, increased surveillance on thepremises and in the surrounding areahas not yet shown this to be the case.

Hopefully, this will be the last wesee of H5N1 for a while but WeBS dataenables us to remain vigilant into thefuture. The quality of the countsprovided by the WeBS volunteers hasbeen highly praised by all involved.

Andy Musgrove

For many years, the large white-headed gulls have causedconfusion and controversy. What

was once simply considered theHerring Gull is now generally recog-nised to comprise at least threespecies in a British context. The northEuropean races argentatus and argen-teus remain as Herring Gull. TheMediterranean race michahellis isnow generally referred to as theYellow-legged Gull (previouslyWestern Yellow-legged Gull) andfurther east, around the Black andCaspian Seas, occurs the race cachin-nans which is generally referred to byUK birders as the Caspian Gull. TheBritish Ornithologists’ Union, at thetime of writing, considers Yellow-legged Gull to be a separate species,but Caspian Gull to be a subspecies ofHerring Gull, although this may wellchange shortly.

It is not the job of WeBS topronounce upon taxonomic issues,but we do need to be clear about thedifferent forms of these gulls we arerecording, where possible in the field.

In the past, we have had thefollowing two-letter codes used withinWeBS:YG – unspecified “Yellow-legged” gulls

(i.e. michahellis and cachinnans).

YM – michahellis “Western” Yellow-legged Gull

YC – cachinnans “Caspian” Gull

Following a review of the codes weuse throughout the BTO, it has beendecided to make a change. YC is leftunchanged for Caspian Gull.

However, we feel that the vastmajority of records assigned to YG inthe past were actually michahellis.

We have, therefore, discontinuedYM as a valid code, and now YG repre-sents Yellow-legged Gull Larusmichahellis.

The only point counters need toconsider is whether any birdsrecorded as YG in the past were actu-ally Caspian Gulls. If so, please get intouch with us and we’ll change themin the database.

No doubt we’ll be writing aboutAmerican Herring Gulls (smithsoni-anus) shortly. Confused? You shouldtry looking at the redpolls…

Andy Musgrove

Yellow-legged Gulls

Caspian Gull, photograph by Peter M Wilson

Yellow-legged Gull, photograph by Peter M Wilson


16

Moving onTwo familiar names to WeBS counters have moved on to pastures newin recent months. Steve Holloway, who has been involved in WeBS andother waterbird surveys for many years, left the BTO in December andis now employed in environmental consultancy. Emma Glaister (neeDavies) has moved on to a new job in Thetford Council.We wish themboth well in their new ventures.

Emma is being replaced by Maria Knight, who has worked in avariety of roles at BTO for several years now and will be a familiar voicefrom her work on our reception. Steve’s replacement will be announcedin a future WeBS News. For the time being, however, any queries youwould have sent to Steve should be directed to Mark Collier.

Who’s Who within theWeBS team—2007

Many counters and Local Organisers are in regularcontact with the WeBS team at BTO. For the benefitof those that are not sure who does what and whoto get in contact with for various matters, thefollowing ‘Who’s who’ is included to clarify the rolesof the various personnel.

Graham Austin,WeBS Database ManagerWeBS AlertsWeBS database managementStatistical analyses

Alex Banks,WeBS National Organiser (Low TideCounts)Low Tide CountsCarmarthen Bay Common Scoters, etc

Mark Collier,WeBS National Organiser (CoreCounts)Annual ReportStandard data requestsWeBS News

Iain Downie,Web Software DeveloperWeBS Online

Maria Knight, Assistant WeBS SecretaryCounter and Local Organiser databasemanagementMailing of count forms, newsletters and annualreports

Ilya Maclean, Research EcologistWeBS Alerts,WeBS website

Heidi Mellan,WeBS SecretaryCounter and Local Organiser databasemanagementMailing of count forms, newsletters and annualreportsJointly responsible for the producton of this editionof WeBS News

Andy Musgrove,WeBS National CoordinatorOverall management of WeBSWeBS database managementWeBS Online

Emailuse the format of [email protected] [email protected]

Web site – WeBS web siteWeBS web site:http://www.bto.org/webs

WeBS Alerts – WeBS Alerts reportWeBS Alerts report:http://blx1.bto.org/webs/alerts/index.htm

WANTED!Although we have access to a number of excellent photographs andline drawings, donated to the BTO over the years by many kind souls,we are always after a wider range to illustrate WeBS News,Waterbirdsin the UK and a variety of talks we give to promote WeBS andencourage new counters. If you have some images you’d be happy tolet WeBS make use of then please get in touch. Otherwise, we’ll haveto start using our own, and they aren’t really very good…

….Other News…. Other News….….Other News…. Other News….

Mystery Bird Answers… 1. Great Northern Diver 2. Stilt Sandpiper 3.American Wigeon

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