BTO Breeding Nightingale Survey 2012

Harry Green

BTO Worcestershire Regional Representative

In 2012 BTO will be organising a new national Nightingale survey, following on from the previous surveys. The 2012 survey will investigate distribution and population change; habitat associations; and the proportion of males that are paired. The Nightingale is a declining summer immigrant to Britain, where it is at the north-western edge of its range. Worcestershire is now on the very edge of that range as the distribution here has retracted to the southern parts of the county in the last forty years although occasional birds turn up elsewhere. Numbers are now low. This means that records from Worcestershire are particularly important for following future changes.

The survey is based on tetrads where Nightingales have been recorded for the last ten years including the 1999 survey. The aim is to cover 2700 tetrads nationally. The survey sites will include those occupied in the 1999 survey, as well as additional sites occupied since 2007 (identified from County Reports, BTO Atlases, BirdTrack records, and local knowledge), and a ‘stratified random’ sample of 300 tetrads within the known range.

The survey

The Basic survey (provisionally 27 April – 14 May 2012) will involve two early morning visits (between one hour before sunrise and 0830hrs). Also there is an Optional Nocturnal Survey (provisionally 18 May – 4 June), to help determine the number of paired/unpaired males, which should ideally involve two nocturnal visits (between midnight and 0300hrs). This based on the fact that Nightingale males tend to stop singing when they find a mate and start to nest. Unpaired males sing on into the summer. Any additional visits or casual records would be very welcome.

Table 1. shows the 41 tetrads allocated for surveying in Worcestershire. They are designated either ‘Priority’ and ‘Non-priority’. The outline structure for the survey is as follows:

First survey period: provisionally 27th April to 14th May

1. two daytime visits to every priority tetrad

2. two daytime visits to as many non-priority tetrads as possible

3. additional daytime visits welcome, to any tetrad.

Second survey period: provisionally 18th May to 4th June

1. two nocturnal visits to as many occupied priority tetrads as possible

2. two nocturnal visits to as many occupied non-priority tetrads as possible

3. additional daytime or nocturnal visits welcome, to any tetrad

If you are interested in helping with this survey please contact me soon so tetrads can be allocated to observers. Ideally the same observer should make the nocturnal visits as well as the daytime ones. Of first importance is to survey ‘Priority’ tetrads but it is highly desirable to cover all tetrads allocated especially to document the changes in Worcestershire since earlier surveys.

The emphasis of this survey is firmly on tetrad coverage but any other Nightingale reports (or zero records) from any area will be welcome. For Worcestershire it would be very helpful if records can sent to me. They can also be submitted to BTO via BirdTrack or on casual-record forms (part of the survey documentation).

Tetrad	10 km square	SiteName	Tetrad type
SO66D	SO66	Nineholes - Kyrewood	Priority
SO74H	SO74	Old Country House	Priority
SO74U	SO74	Leigh Sinton Road	Priority
SO74W	SO74	Langdale Wood	Priority
SO74X	SO74	Great Malvern	Priority
SO74Z	SO74	Malvern Spring lane industrial estate	Priority
SO75C	SO75	Bringsty Common	Priority
SO75N	SO75	Easinghope Farm	Priority
SO76K	SO76	NW of Martley	Priority
SO76R	SO76	Hockhams Farm - Martley	Priority
SO77V	SO77	Lickhill Manor Caravan Park	Priority
SO83H	SO83	Hill Court Farm - Longdon	Non Priority
SO83T	SO83	Ripple	Non Priority
SO83Z	SO83	Strensham Pool	Non Priority
SO83L	SO83	Forthampton	Priority
SO83V	SO83	Priors Park	Non priority
SO83W	SO83	Tewkesbury Ham	Priority
SO83X	SO83	Mythe Railway	Priority
SO84F	SO83	Brotheridge Green	Priority
SO84K	SO83	Upton upon Severn old railway	Priority
SO84L	SO84	Severn End	Non Priority
SO84R	SO84	Earls Croome	Non Priority
SO84S	SO84	High Green	Non Priority
SO84V	SO84	Strensham M5 Services	Non Priority
SO84X	SO84	Defford Airfield	Non Priority
SO84Y	SO84	Lickmoor Coppice	Non Priority
SO84B	SO84	Hanley Swan	Priority
SO84J	SO84	Old Hills Common	Priority
SO84T	SO84	Northmoor Common	Priority
SO84W	SO84	Marsh Common	Priority
SO86A	SO86	Monkwood	Priority
SO86D	SO86	Shrawley Wood area	Priority
SO87B	SO87	Burlish Top, Stourport	Priority
SO93E	SO93	Strensham Water Works	Priority
SO94A	SO94	South Covert - Strensham	Non Priority
SO94E	SO94	Caldewell Mill	Non Priority
SO94S	SO94	Menagerie Wood	Non Priority
SO94D	SO94	Deerfold Wood	Priority
SO96I	SO96	Upton Warren	Non Priority
SP04U	SP04	Abbots Salford	Priority
SP06Y	SP06	Conduit Coppice	Priority

Table 1. Worcestershire tetrads to be covered in the 2012 survey.

In addition, there will be some paid work undertaken for the survey and organised by BTO. The extent of this is dependent on funding and is very uncertain at present. If any keen and competent reader is interested in the possibility of limited short-term work at short notice, if the opportunity arose, please let me know.

If you are interested in the results of earlier surveys and the history of Nightingales in Worcestershire there are two articles in Worcestershire Record (Green 1998 and 1999) which can also be seen on-line at http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/Issue5/Nightgal.htm and http://www.wbrc.org.uk/WORCRECD/Issue7/nightgal.htm or even read on paper when you consult your archive of back numbers.

References

Green, G.H.1998. Nightingales in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Record 5:21-24

Green, G.H. 1999 Nightingale survey Worcestershire 1999 – Results. Worcestershire Record 7:9-10.