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Making your birdwatching count! Become a member or contribute to one of our surveys. Together we can make a real difference to the future of Britain's birds.
Dear supporter
I hope you have been coping with the cold weather – inconvenient at most for us, but a lot more serious for our birds, we suspect. It will be fascinating to see regional results from this year’s Breeding Bird Survey, and of course a cold winter in the middle of the Bird Atlas 2007-11 survey will add to the interest of the data there.
I wonder what this summer's Barn Owl Monitoring Programme will reveal – this week I saw at least six Barn Owls hunting together on north Norfolk’s coastal grazing marsh. They may well have done better than those feeding over frozen ground inland.
Back in 1987, the last really cold winter, we were dependent on monitoring information from only 5,000 volunteers – now at least 40,000 of you can contribute! Please keep sending in those records so that we get a clear picture of how our birds have coped with the snow and ice!
Andy Clements, BTO Director
Birds flock to gardens
We can already see the effects of the snow in the BTO Garden BirdWatch data, as used by Chris Packham on BBC Snow Watch. Thrushes and buntings flooded into Britain’s gardens as food in the wider countryside became harder to find under the blanket of snow and ice. Mistle Thrush showed an increase in the use of gardens of 73% compared with a ‘normal’ winter, and Redwing and Fieldfare by 283% and 267% respectively! For the full report click here.
Join the Garden BirdWatch brood
The results above show just how useful (and interesting) it is to collect information about which birds are using our gardens. Why not take this interest further by signing up to the BTO Garden BirdWatch and help contribute to these data. It costs just £15 a year and, as well as four quarterly magazines, all new joiners will receive a free copy of an exclusive edition of ‘Garden Birds and Wildlife’, which is being published in February.
Hard weather hits birds
During the recent cold weather we received many reports of unusual bird movements and behaviour, as well as an increase in reports of birds dying in the cold. Some birds found could not fly, as they had used up both their fat supplies and metabolised their muscles, but others with access to supplementary food managed to put on weight. Reports of ringed birds suggest that Barn Owls were badly hit, although a wide variety of species were reported dead because of the weather. The good news is that fewer cold weather deaths were reported last week, but we will only see the true effect of the cold snap in the summer, through the Breeding Bird Survey (BBS) and Constant Efforts Sites Scheme (CES).
Celebrate the International Year of Biodiversity with National Nest Box Week 
What better place to start than in your own garden? As part of National Nest Box Week (NNBW), 14-21 February, you can do your bit for biodiversity by putting up a nest box. There are many different types, from the traditional hole-type, favoured by Blue and Great Tits, to specially designed ones for birds like House Martins and Treecreepers. National Nest Box Week is sponsored by Jacobi Jayne and supported by S
imon King.
If you're not already a BTO member, you can sign up for membership and receive a free nest box. Click on the link, choose from the two 'Official Nest Box' designs, shown bottom right on the page, and follow the promotional links.
Going for a song
It is now only a week before the Species Sponsorship Auction kicks off. We have had lots of interest in many of the species, but there are still some which are unloved and could go for the minimum bid of £300. This could be a great opportunity for your bird club or company to sponsor a species and appear in the published Bird Atlas 2007-11. We wish all those participating the best of luck!
Free Bird Survey Taster Day
The final Building Bird Monitoring in Scotland Bird Survey Taster Day for land managers and landowners interested in wetland bird recording will take place at Loch of Skene, Dunecht Estate, Aberdeenshire, on 3 March.
Read the latest updates from the fieldwork in Africa at our Migrants in Africa blog.
See how the cold weather has affected bird movements around the country with BirdTrack.
Arctic Terns' epic journey mapped & Puffins' winter odyssey revealed through use of geolocators.
Orkney-bred Greylag Geese in Norfolk and Scottish Red Kite in the Azores - all on the demog blog.
Make a New Year's resolution you can stick to - Join one of our surveys, participate in a training course or take part in a skydive to raise money for Britain's birds.
BTO Communications Team
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