Steve must have been busy at lunchtime as I picked my county report up and Sean Sweeney was there as well.
Then got home to receive my Cheshire Atlas - astounding value at £30.
I know David Norman has put an enormous amount of work into this project, as well as the regional co-ordinators. Regular progress meetings and newsletters helped to keep the momentum going - hence the excellent coverage by the volunteers. CAWOS also managed to secure lottery funding which greatly improved the look of the final product.
I'd certainly like to help out with the Manchester Atlas and I already co-ordinate SJ78 (still looking for volunteers by the way as certain people have 'dropped out' fror various reasons).
I agree that this is a superb publication and that the mapping techniques break new ground, with the use of colour being particularly effective in making the data easy to interpret. At least I've never come across a county atlas before that presents data in such an interesting manner enabling you to compare not only winter and breeding season distribution, but also changes between the previous atlas (1978-84) and the new one on the same maps. It gives a lot of pointers as to how we might map changes in the breeding distribution of GM birds, using the data from Breeding Birds of Greater Manchester published in 1984. What is really impressive is that more than 350 volunteers took part in the surveys of Cheshire and Wirral. If we are to successfully map the distribution of breeding birds in GM we need all GM birders to submit their records to the BTO Atlas website. The BTO should be supplying us with the data from the 2008 breeding season before the end of November. We will then have a clear picture of how much progress has been made during the first season and how much more remains to be done. Your help Sean is of course greatly appreciated, as is that of all the other birders who are supporting this important project with their time and enthusiasm.
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The Watergrove Skyline (January 2010) - before desecration.
Just opened it at work. What a splendid tome - great value for money on pre-order. And the excellent new County Report collected off Steve this lunchtime too.
Got my copy of the new Cheshire & Wirral Breeding & Wintering Atlas last night, a huge book with lots of detailed accounts and great mapping techniques. Many of the changes occuring there have also observed here in GM, especially the decline in many of our farmland and moorland/heath birds, but watch this space for several of the new species such as Hobby that have simply exploded since the last Atlas of 1978-84, while Little Egret and Med Gull have both established themselves now in Wirral and Cheshire respectively. For others the reading was not good, as Turtle Dove has finally become locally extinct and Dunlin appears to have left Eastern Cheshire as a breeding species too. I look forward to helping Manchester get ours done with the Atlas data being collected currently!?
Dear me how times change I have the original 1900 Birds of Cheshire Coward and Oldham, that was followed by, a lovely 2 volume piece The Fauna of Cheshire and Liverpool bay 1910, then we had to wait till 1962 till we got The Birds of Cheshire by T Hedley Bell with supplement. The fantastic 1992 breedding birds of Cheshire and the Wirral is still a good book, but hey another bird book can only be a good thing.
Thanks for the reminders, I luckily got my order in just in time and look forward to getting my hands on this book. I still have the last one on my shelf (the breeding bird atlas of Cheshire and Wirral, 1992), which I can remember getting for my 15th birthday!? As a Chester lad born and bred I always keep an eye out over there. Saw some of that visible migration over Tatton Park on Saturday (hundreds of fieldfares and redwings), while watching the rutting red deer too.
Hi Tim, If you go to the CAWOS website http://www.cawos.org.uk/ you can download a pre-publication order form and save £10. However you'll have to hurry as the offer is only valid until 20th Oct. I've already ordered my copy.
Steve
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The Watergrove Skyline (January 2010) - before desecration.
Just received Liverpool University's new titles list at work
Birds in Cheshire and Wirral (sic) A Breeding Atlas and Wintering Atlas by David Norman due Nov (phoned to check) 704pp 300 colour illus. Hb only price £45.00
