Please note the time of this walk is 9.30am NOT 2pm as printed in the Programme card.

SOS – Countywide survey in 60 tetrads Volunteers needed – can you help? Two morning visits in May/June and June/July Click here for details.

Now 17 Teams (surely a record?) have completed their Race, and the totals stand at 107  Ruff ‘n’ready (Tim Squire, Josh MacCallum Stewart) 97 The Martlets (Peter Plant, Hugh Horne, Peter Davis, Sophie May Lewis, Gary Trew) 96 Dynamic Duo (Elliot Chandler, John Thorogood) 96  Mike’s Mergansers (Mike English, Jan Jupp, Lesley Milward, Mike Russell, […]

If you are planning to do the Race – remember it has to be during the first two weeks of January – don’t forget to let me know and to ask for a Race pack. My team are up for it again! Val Bentley: chetsford@talk21.com or ring 01273 494723

We need a couple more people to carry out some Brent Geese surveys around Pagham/Medmerry. The purpose of the surveys is to plot which fields Brent Geese (and key waders) forage on, so the survey will be a mix of driving around to see if there any target species on the fields that you can […]

There are still places at the Annual Conference for SOS members on Saturday 26th January at Clair Hall, Haywards Heath. Tim Squire has put together a really interesting  programme:  Mark Mallalieu on the extraordinary influx of Hawfinches in the winter of 2017/18 (he seems to be finding more this winter!), Rachel White from Brighton University […]

At the October meeting of the SOS Scientific Committee we discussed plans for forthcoming survey work. On-going projects such as WeBS, BBS and SDFBI will continue as usual but there are two new projects planned for 2019. National Willow Tit Survey The endemic race of Willow Tit (Poecile montanus kleinschmidti) is the second-fastest declining species […]

The RSPB’s South Downs Farmland Bird Monitoring project is not being continued next year, but the SOS has agreed to try to find volunteer surveyors if the farmers involved would like to see surveys continue in order to maintain an understanding of how farming practices are affecting their breeding birds. This is an excellent opportunity […]

The BTO English Winter Bird Survey (EWBS) this winter will involve survey visits to randomly-selected squares that are dominated by farmland, and will assess bird populations using farmland and will also monitor the availability of food resources throughout the winter, providing national-scale monitoring of the effects of agri-environment scheme management on birds in winter (see […]

Now is a good time of the year to consider taking part in the BTO Breeding Bird Survey (BBS), because if you take on a BBS square you will also have the option to take part in the Sussex Winter Bird Survey (SWBS) by surveying the same square over the coming winter. The BBS is […]