Sunday 31st July 2011

Any records that you collect up to 31st October 2011 that include evidence of confirmed breeding (nests, adults carrying food, recently fledged or downy young) will still contribute to the Atlas.

Breeding species to look out for through August include Hobby, House Martin, ducks, gamebirds, and late-nesting finches and buntings such as Linnet, Yellowhammer and Corn Bunting. Through September you may still be able to collect evidence confirming breeding for Woodpigeons and Collared Doves.

Please submit your records and description species submissions promptly. The cut-off date for submitting records to the SOS is 31st January 2012, and for loading them onto one of the BTO systems is 31st December 2011. Any records submitted after these dates will not be included in the national or Sussex Atlas datasets.

If you have a record of a description species please submit it to the SOS Recorder immediately, so that the SOS Records Committee will have time to reach a decision on it before the cut-off date of 31st January 2012.

Validation

To ensure that the final maps are accurate, Helen Crabtree, Richard Cowser, Paul James and John Newnham are validating the Atlas records, and checking for any possible errors. Please regularly check your Atlas homepage, as any validation queries will be flagged up there. If you do get a query please answer it promptly, as any records with unresolved queries will not be included in the final Atlas dataset. If you are unsure about why a record of yours has been queried please contact any of the four people named above. There is usually a very simple explanation.

Thank you

To everyone who has contributed records to the Atlas dataset over the last four years, a massive thank you! All the signs are showing that Sussex has been particularly well atlassed!

Not sure of what the various breeding status codes are? Click here: www.bto.org/birdatlas/taking_part/bevidence.htm

To see which tetrads could most benefit from more roving recording, look at the BTO tetrad species richness map for the breeding season (updated daily) here.

For the latest information on which species have been recorded online in any tetrad (including records from the current breeding season) go to your BTO Atlas homepage, click the “Any square summary” box and type in the tetrad for which you want to see the latest results.