Breeding Birds of North Wales

Ian M Spence: Ian has been retired for 10 years and is a ringer, bird recorder for Denbighshire and Flintshire and Director of Cofnod for 10 years. He was Secretary of the Welsh Ornithological Society from 2006 to 2020 and a co-editor of The Breeding Birds of North Wales (2013). Anne Brenchley: Anne is a life-long birdwatcher and semi-retired ecologist. She is Chair of the Welsh Ornithological Society and has been a Regional Representative of the British Trust for Ornithology since 2000 and a co-editor of The Breeding Birds of North Wales (2013). Rhion Pritchard is a former editor of the Cambrian Bird Report and the Welsh Bird Report, and current editor of Birds in Wales. He is the author of Birds of Meirionnydd (2012) and The Birds of Caernarfonshire (2017), co-editor of The Breeding Birds of North Wales (2013) and is also bird recorder for Caernarfonshire. Geoff Gibbs is the BTO's Regional Representative for Caernarfon.

• Foreword by Iolo WilliamsAbbreviations and acronymsAcknowledgementsIntroductionWhy produce this Atlas?The project areaBackground to the projectProject managementOur approach to an AtlasVolunteers - training and motivationPublicityNewslettersFieldwork methodsOther sources of dataMonitoring progressFunding the projectPublication costsPublication processHabitats, landscape and land useNorth Wales - a portraitPhysical geography and geologyClimateWeather patterns during the Atlas periodHuman geographyPrincipal land cover types and their associated bird speciesEstuaries (including floodplain grazing marsh), sand dunes and saltmarshCoast cliffs including offshore islandsRocky shores and coastal shingleFarmland and boundary features - hedges, walls, ditches and tracksLowland neutral and calcareous semi-natural grasslands and heathland (including maritime heath)Lowland wetlands (raised bog, fens and reedbeds)Lakes, reservoirs and pondsRivers and streamsBroadleaved woodlandWet and riparian woodlandsConiferous plantationsFfridd including scrub and BrackenMontane, moorland, blanket bog and upland dry acid grasslandResidential areas including gardensIndustrial and postindustrial habitats including quarriesMajor changes in bird habitats from the time of Forrest to the present day1800 to 19001900 to the 1940s1940s to 1970s1970s to 1980s1990s to the present dayFuture predictionsOur resultsDistribution patterns and species richness - implications for conservationIntroductionOverall species richness - bird biodiversity hotspotsBiodiversity planning and its relevance for birdsBiodiversity planning in WalesThe population status of birds in WalesWhich were the most widespread breeding species?Distribution patterns of specific groups of speciesWaterbirdsSeabirdsRaptors and owlsWading birdsUpland birdsWoodland birdsFarmland birdsComparison with the 1968-72 and 1988-91 national AtlasesDeclining speciesSpecies no longer breeding in North Wales (since 1968-72 and 1988-91)Increasing speciesRecent colonists in North WalesSpecies that may return to North Wales and potential colonistsBirds seen in the breeding season that did not breedHow we achieved our resultsObserver effortFieldworker skillsFinal coveragePopulation estimatesFuture conservation measuresLessons learned from this project that should be considered for any future, similar surveyPlanning before fieldwork beginsDuring the fieldwork periodMonitoringSpecies accountsIntroduction to the species accountsBreeding status and Welsh conservation statusHistorical information about speciesVice-county names within the textThe main mapThe small maps at 10km levelData tablePhotographsPopulation trend graphsSponsorshipThe individual species accountsSpecies classified as Category E by the BOUTechnical informationSources of dataPreparation of dataNumbers of recordsContributors of recordsMonitoring progressOrganising the textArranging publicationUnitary authoritiesAppendicesGlossaryScientific names of non-bird speciesGazetteerReferencesIndex of bird speciesEnglish namesWelsh namesScientific names

It’s quite a big book and quite a thick book. … The contents look good – clear maps, some beautiful photographs, understandable tables and a few graphs. ...This is a book to take with you to a Desert Island because it is fascinating, and because part of its size is dictated by having some dual-language parts, so as well as learning the birds of North Wales you could try and learn Welsh through bird distributions.Mary Avery, Sunday Book Review