February 2010 Newsletter
Biocensus sponsor the BTO Bird Atlas
The Breeding Bird Atlas of Britain and Ireland, published by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) was last updated in 1992, and since then has proven to be an invaluable tool for consultants and researchers alike. The BTO is currently collating data for a new edition, due out in 2012. The new atlas will bring together distribution maps of winter and breeding bird species across the whole of Britain and Ireland. A venture of this scale would be impossible as a purely commercial undertaking, as it would require many thousands of fieldwork hours. Therefore the project relies on volunteers to collect data from standardised surveys of 4km2 ‘tetrads’, or “roving” records from anywhere.
In order to fund the publication of this invaluable book the BTO have invited sponsorship of individual species. Biocensus are keen to support this important venture, and are delighted to announce our sponsorship of the Little Ringed Plover. We have also gone a step further by submitting all our bird survey data from 2008 and 2009, and according to the BTO we are the only company to have done so. This may raise a few eyebrows, but as data recorded to tetrad level is not site sensitive we believe that its provision should be standard practice. Consultants regularly use such data during desk studies and report writing, and we therefore urge them to follow our lead in making it available to the BTO.
The BTO thanked us for our support in the latest issue of their News magazine:
“Biocensus Ltd, an ecological consultancy, have been supplying Atlas records collected during site visits since the projects inception. They are now generously providing much-needed financial support through Little Ringed Plover sponsorship. This species was chosen because, during the course of their work, they often find it bravely breeding on the most disturbed and chaotic sites, surrounded by excavators and other heavy plant. Despite its often ‘interesting’ choice of habitat, it is obviously doing well enough for it to be, potentially, one of the Atlas’s success stories.”
Find details on how to sponsor a species or get involved in data collection on the BTO website www.bto.org.
Badger ecology training course places available
Biocensus Training’s first
course of 2010 is now available for bookings. Our ‘Introduction to Badger Ecology and Management’ course will take place on
March 8th at our training venue near Stroud, Gloucestershire.
This one day course is aimed at professionals who deal with badger management issues in relation to development, planning, damage mitigation or conservation. The course also includes in-depth discussion of the recent changes to Natural England’s guidance on interpreting what constitutes ‘current use’ and ‘disturbance’ of badger setts.
Highly experienced tutors will provide a comprehensive introduction to badger ecology and management. A morning of instruction in the classroom will be followed by an afternoon in the field putting theory into practice. The course is endorsed by the Badger Trust.
A course booklet, resource CD, buffet lunch and tea/coffee will be provided.
For further details of this course, and our 2010 course timetable, go to the training page, or to find out more email us at enquiries@biocensus.co.uk or call 0845 4594810.
Automated bird song recognition: PhD opportunity
Birds are observed, identified and recorded for many reasons - bird watching for fun, as part of conservation monitoring schemes, and for the ecological assessment of sites destined for development. As well as using visual cues, the characteristics of bird calls and songs are very often used to identify the species encountered. However, even experienced birders may find it difficult when there is background noise, or when several species are singing simultaneously.
An automated system which could filter out this background noise, record and identify the presence of a target species would be of great interest to professional and amateur ornithologists alike. Biocensus is working with colleagues at the University of Birmingham to pioneer the development of an automated acoustic recognition system for identifying bird species in the field, based on cutting-edge speech and speaker recognition technology.
There is currently a PhD Studentship funded by the University of Birmingham (click here for details) available to work with us, and our colleagues at the University on this project. Applicants should possess at least an Upper Second Class honours degree in mathematics, physics, engineering or computer science, and an interest in wildlife / ornithology would be desirable.
For further information, contact us at enquiries@biocensus.co.uk or call 0845 4594810.