BBS: what is required and how to participate

What is required?

The survey involves two spring visits to a local 1-km square, to count all the birds you see or hear along two 1-km transects within the square. Each visit should take less than two hours, and we recommend that you make a reconnaissance visit to set up or check your transect route and access, and complete a habitat recording form. We are also interested in mammal records from your square, and you can even visit your square later in the season to survey for butterflies.

For background information about BBS, click here

To see the full survey instructions, click here

What skills are required?

You don’t need to be a world-class birder to take part, but you should be able to identify common birds by sight and sound. If required, a CD of the songs and calls of over 70 British species is available FREE to BBS volunteers.

The BTO runs a number of 1-day and residential weekend courses, mainly centered on teaching bird survey techniques. For details, see www.bto.org/notices/trgworkshops.htm

How is the survey organised?

The survey is organised via a network of voluntary Regional Organisers (ROs). Your RO will provide the grid reference of your 1-km BBS square (e.g. TL1234), a map of the square, and a full set of BBS recording forms.

To download BBS forms and instructions, click here

How do I get involved?

To register for BBS, click here to get in touch with your Regional Organiser

Where are the survey sites?

Survey sites are randomly selected 1-km squares of the National Grid. Your Regional Organiser will allocate you a survey site as near as possible to where you live.

How do I find my survey site on a map?

Visit the website www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/getamap Click on ‘Get-a-map’ and enter your Ordnance Survey (OS) grid reference.

Look at a pink (scale 1:50,000) or orange (scale 1:25,000) OS map. Click here for more information on locating a grid reference.

How do I return my data?

You can send back your completed forms to your RO, or submit your data on BBS-Online. To find out more about BBS-Online, click here

Other questions

Answers to frequently asked questions can be found by clicking here