BRITISH TRUST FOR ORNITHOLOGY — NEWS LETTER

The BTO logo – Birds Science People View this email in your web browser Sand Martin, by Liz Cutting / BTO Dear John, Welcome to the Member Edition of the March BTO newsletter. It feels like there is some momentum around our spring arrivals, as more returning summer visitors put in an appearance. There is also a growing dawn chorus, and a welcome lengthening of daylight hours. Despite the changeable conditions, typical of this time of the year, it feels like spring is truly in the ascendance. There are plenty of other reasons to get outside though, not least in the form of a new BTO project seeking to add to our understanding of the bird communities using our greenspaces. Why not make the most of a sunny spring day, feel the warmth and get involved in this or one of our other projects? Birds in Greenspaces Our Birds in Greenspaces survey is landing next week, and between 1 April and 30 June we want you to get into your local greenspace and tell us which and how many birds you see. This project is open to everyone, and if you are new to birds we have plenty of resources to help you on your way. Plus our new app will make recording in the field quick and easy, with some great features to help you build your skills. Sign up and find out more on our taking part page. Find out more Birds in Greenspaces artwork, by Will Rose Nest Quest Ever wondered what goes on inside a bird’s nest? Nest Quest is BTO Youth’s nest recording challenge for under-26s, running from March to September. It’s a chance to sharpen your field skills, learn more about breeding birds, and contribute real data to the long-running BTO Nest Record Scheme. Whether you’re discovering your first nest or already experienced at nest recording, you can take part by submitting nest records and seeing how many species you can find over the season. There are prizes up for grabs, and every record helps BTO scientists understand how birds are doing across the UK. Ready to get started? Find out more and join the challenge Blackbird nest, by Mike Toms / BTO Share your thoughts on BTO News We hope you're enjoying the latest issue of your member magazine, BTO News! We’re keen to hear your feedback on the magazine overall – what you like, what we could improve and what content you might like to see in the future! So, we’d be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to fill out our short questionnaire. Answer our BTO News questionnaire BTO News Magazine Spring 2026 cover and sample inside pages Latest News Monitoring seabirds The fortunes of our internationally important breeding seabirds are charted through the latest Seabird Monitoring Programme Report and the Northern Ireland Seabird Report. The latter includes some notable success stories, thanks to ongoing conservation work. Puffin, by Edmund Fellowes / BTO Nominate for an award Nominations for our annual ornithology awards are now open. The awards recognise achievements and contributions to different aspects of ornithological study, and are supported by the Marsh Charitable Trust. Nominate someone for an award. Marsh Award for Young Ornithologist 2025 – Ramandeep Nijjar, by Anthony Sajdler / BTO New opportunities to understand biodiversity loss If we are to identify the reasons for biodiversity loss and assess its consequences, then we need robust monitoring data and appropriate approaches for its measurement. A new piece of work, involving BTO staff, has looked at a suite of technological and other advances that are driving change in our abilities to measure biodiversity, including the likes of environmental DNA, remote sensing, and acoustic monitoring. The study outlines the opportunities that these developments offer, and also considers some of the challenges. Help needed to survey Woodcock This spring BTO and GWCT will continue the annual monitoring of breeding Woodcock to keep check on the status of our declining population. We need your help to improve survey coverage and re-visit more of the occupied priority squares; requiring up to three evening visits during May and June. If you currently take part in this survey, please survey your square again, or if you are new to the survey you can search for available squares in your area by visiting the Woodcock survey page. You can also view results from the 2025 survey. Woodcock, by John Dodsworth / BTO Featured training courses & events Bird Sound ID in Summer If you want to level up your song and call identification skills in readiness for summer visitors arriving, our online Bird Sound ID in Summer course is for you! During two 2-hour interactive online sessions, we'll explain what makes a songbird, recap our ‘Describe–Visualise–Memorise’ approach to recognising and remembering bird sounds, then apply that to a range of birds that can be heard in the UK in summer. Species covered include Linnet, Yellowhammer, Reed Bunting, Skylark, our widespread warblers and pipits, along with Stonechat, Whinchat and Wheatear. The live online sessions are complemented by supported self-study exercises. We place a strong emphasis on providing you with tools and techniques to help you to continue learning to identify birds by sound after the course, including the use of spectrograms to help visualise the bird sounds you hear. Note: Bird Sound ID in Summer includes much of the same sound-related content as the Songbird ID course that we ran during 2021–24. Most of the species covered are fairly common and widespread, but not many of them are ‘garden’ birds, hence this course is most suitable for people keen to learn to recognise bird sounds in a wider range of habitats. Wednesdays 29 April and 6 May, 7 p.m. Thursdays 30 April and 7 May, 10 a.m. Thursdays 30 April and 7 May, 7 p.m. Thank you for your continued support! Happy birding, The BTO Membership Team DONATE VOLUNTEER British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk IP24 2PU. www.bto.org | info@bto.org. Registered Charity no. 216652 (England & Wales) SC039193 (Scotland). Company Limited by Guarantee no. 357284 (England and Wales) Unsubscribe from the BTO e-newsletter