Five-year project reveals major changes to Cotswold bird population (From Cotswold Journal)

Five-year project reveals major changes to Cotswold bird population

9:00am Sunday 26th July 2009 in News By Simon Crump

AFTER five years of traipsing around the Cotswold countryside to catalogue the Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty’s bird population, three ornithologists have published a book of their findings.

Iain Main, Dave Pearce and Tim Hutton were among about 20 North Cotswold Ornithological Society members who undertook the research, between 2003 and 2007, for Birds of the Cotswolds: A new breeding atlas.

Liverpool University Press has published this glossy, 234-page, £25 hardback that details the numbers and distribution patterns of the various species of birds in the Cotswolds.

The Society began working on the book in 2003 to mark the 20th anniversary of being founded in 1983.

Martin Wright founded the Society after moving to the Cotswolds from neighbouring Oxfordshire, where he was a Banbury Ornithological Society member.

North Cotswold Ornithological Society conducted its first bird survey between 1983 and 1987, the results of which were published in An Atlas of Cotswold Breeding Birds in 1990.

Iain Main, a retired Scottish physicist living in Cheltenham, was the creative force behind the latest book and also collated the data for it.

Semi-retired Dave Pearce, also of Cheltenham, brought his extensive bird-watching experience to bear in the production of the book.

Tim Hutton, of Childswickham, near Broadway, contributed book-publishing experience he gained while working in food science at Campden BRI, in Chipping Campden, for 20 years.

Martin Wright, now living in Stroud, also made a significant contribution, as did Peter Dymott and Ian Ralphs.

The ornithologists obtained a lot of information from farmers and divided the Cotswolds into 325 areas for the purposes of their work, which they mainly undertook on mornings between April and July.

They discovered the area’s bird population had changed since the first survey.

The number of buzzards had increased 20-fold because of the eradication of many pesticides and a rise in the number of rabbits, their main prey.

The ornithologists also found about 30 breeding pairs of raven, there having been none 20 years ago.

However, it was not all good news because grey partridge numbers have dramatically declined for reasons unknown.

“It’s the mixture of birds that is typical of the Cotswolds, rather than one particular species,” said Tim whose favourite bird is the red kite, which has not yet been seen in the Cotswolds.

“The survey took a lot of effort.

“There was a lot of slogging around and going back to places.

“I learned a lot of things I didn’t know before.

“It was very successful.

“I’m very pleased with what the book looks like.

“Birds are very good indicators of the health of the environment.

“The fact that birds of prey are doing better now is indicative of certain improvements in aspects of the environment.”

Their findings will be included in a national bird atlas being produced by the British Trust for Ornithology.

They may also be used for various other purposes, including helping the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) devise recommendations for stewardship schemes.

However, the next Cotswold bird atlas will probably not be published for another 20 years, when dedicated ornithologists will undoubtedly spend many hours traipsing around the countryside seeking their feathered friends.