Hello All
Anyone out there who would be interested in setting up a team for remote
areas?
Moira
Dear Moira
Expenses for Atlas fieldwork expeditions
As in previous Atlases, BTO will be offering some expenses towards
expeditions to cover remote or difficult to access areas for Timed Tetrad
Visits and Roving Records. We have expenses available for trips in winter
and the breeding season for the final two years of Atlas fieldwork.
The expenses will cover mileage and in winter we have set aside money for
reasonable accommodation whereas in summer we hope there might be a bit of
camping involved!
We are interested to hear from anyone who can set up a team (hopefully of
four skilled birdwatchers) to visit the more difficult areas in Scotland and
Northern Ireland. There are many target areas in Scotland such as mainland
Argyll, Mull, Islay, Coll, Wester Ross, upland parts of Moray and the
Western Isles. In Northern Ireland the target areas are Co. Londonderry, Co
Tyrone, Co Fermanagh and Co Armagh. There are some differences in priority
areas between winter and the breeding season.
We would expect a team to primarily undertake Timed Tetrad Visits.
Typically an individual can cover between 4-5 tetrads per day for one hour
counts in winter, perhaps slightly more in the breeding season, depending on
the weather, terrain and accessibility. Working in a team there will be an
element of dropping off and picking team members up at the start and end of
the day. The ideal scenario would be for a team to make a round of early
visits to an area and for the same team or another team to make a round of
late visits. In some areas which are difficult to access then single visits
of two hours will be acceptable. The timing of these single visits,
especially in the breeding season, is crucial and we recommend that visits
are made between the end of May and the end of June. Timing in the winter
is less crucial.
We are advertising these expenses initially through Atlas Regional
Organisers and we ask you to pass on this email to your keen helpers who
might be interested. If you are keen to organise a trip and have some
willing volunteers to join you, please get in touch with us in the first
instance to discuss locations and timings.
We look forward to hearing from you.
With best wishes
Dawn Balmer & Bob Swann