Since 1988, over 22,000 farm woods have been planted in England. BTO volunteers collected data from farmland woods in 2019, to assess how well birds have colonised recently planted areas.
Background
The newly planted farm woods were planted in a wide variety of settings, ranging from complete isolation through to alongside existing established woodland. This provided a very interesting natural experiment to assess how well birds have colonised these new woodlands on farmland.
- This survey covered many of the 46 farm woodland sites previously surveyed in 1999, as well as up to 2000 other farm woods, which hadn’t been surveyed at all.
Volunteers made four morning visits between mid March 2019 and 15 July 2019, to record all birds in and around the farm wood plot. A summary of the number of territories detected was then determined from each survey visit. Volunteers also collected data about the habitat, such as tree species, boundary type and mammal activity.
Results and reports
Methodology
Volunteers carried out four morning visits between 05:00 a.m. and 11:00 a.m., each conducted at least two weeks apart.
- Volunteers walked a route around the perimeter and through the farm woodland, to within 50 m of every part of the woodland.
- All birds seen and heard were recorded on a survey map using standard BTO species and activity codes, to accurately plot all individuals and help avoid double-counting.
- Volunteers also collected data about the habitat, such as tree species, boundary type and mammal activity.
- These methods were designed to estimate species’ abundances, overall abundance and species richness.
Resources
Essential survey documents
Additional supporting documents
For additional help with tree identification, please see the Woodland Trust Guide to British Trees.
Further information
All the instructions and forms needed to participate will be available on the Resources page shortly. Please direct any questions to the survey organiser Greg Conway, via farmwoodbirds@bto.org or by telephoning 01842 750050.