FIRECREST TOURS : Guided Birdwatching & Wildlife Days

Redwing (BTO) Thanks to the efforts of over 1,600 volunteers, our Winter Thrushes Survey covered more than 3,000 different locations in the first year of fieldwork. Over 12,500 visits were made overall, with Sussex hitting the top of the county leader board for core site visits.  Initital exploration of the data  suggest that winter thrushes switch from feeding in trees to ground feeding as the autumn progresses and that this switch may occur at different times for the different species. http://www.bto.org/news-events/news/2013-07/winter-thrushes-survey-update

A huge amount has happened in the eighty-year lifetime of the BTO. Whilst the life expectancy of a man has increased from 53 to 78 and that for a woman from 60 to 81, much of our bird life has fared rather less well. In five pages we focus on the range of the BTO’s achievements over eight decades – from its role in the discovery of DDT’s impact on raptor populations, via the reactions to Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring and on to more recent concerns about farmland, woodland and migrant birds. Throughout this period our members, whether amateurs or professionals, have helped to shed light on the issues facing Britain’s birds and the habitats we share with them.