• National Biodiversity Network Trust
  • NBN Forum
  • NBN Atlas
  • Log In
NBN Atlas
  • Join or Donate
  • NBN Atlas News
  • Contact us
  • Log in / Register
  • Choose NBN Atlas
    • NBN Atlas
    • NBN Atlas Isle of Man
    • NBN Atlas Northern Ireland
    • NBN Atlas Scotland
    • NBN Atlas Wales
    • Beautiful Burial Ground Portal
NBN Atlas
  • Species
  • Locations
    • Search by polygon
    • Explore by address, postcode or location
    • Explore by pre-defined area
  • Analyse
  • Get Involved
    • Submit a sighting – individuals
    • Share your data – organisations
    • NBN Atlas Citations
    • Donate / Support the NBN Atlas and the NBN Trust
    • Sign up for our Newsletter
    • NBN Conference
  • Data and Partners
    • Search for a Data Partner
    • Search NBN Atlas datasets
    • Advanced record search
    • Species lists
  • About
    • About NBN Atlas
    • NBN Atlas Citations
    • Join or Donate
  • Help
  1. Home
  2. Data Resources
  3. Cirl bunting national surveys in the UK

Page options

Edit metadata for this data resource. You need
appropriate authorisation to do this. You will
be asked to log in if you are not already.

Cirl bunting national surveys in the UK

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Description

The cirl bunting <i>Emberiza cirlus</i> is a scarce and localised breeding bird in the UK, now being confined almost entirely to south Devon. It is on the Red List of Birds of Conservation Concern in the UK owing to the rapid decline (>50%) in the UK breeding range over the past 25 years, and has been identified as a priority species in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Full surveys of the breeding cirl bunting population in Britain and the Channel Islands was undertaken in 1989, 1998, 2003, and in 2009 to document potential range expansion. <br><br>

The 1989 survey was conducted by the RSPB in conjunction with the Devon Bird Watching and Preservation Society. The 1998 survey was funded by the RSPB and Nature Conservancy Council (NCC) (now Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)). The 2003 survey was funded by the RSPB, English Nature (now Natural England) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). The 2009 survey was funded by the RSPB and Natural England. The surveys were carried out under the Statutory Conservation Agencies and RSPB Breeding Birds Scheme (SCARABBS) partnership.

Geographic Description

The surveys were conducted primarily in Devon and were based on the species' known range. Searches were also carried out in Cornwall, Somerset and the Isle of Wight where there had been recent cirl bunting sightings. Records for Jersey will be provided when mapping for the Channel Islands becomes available on the NBN.<br><br>

The majority of the records are at 100 m resolution. Some records in the 1989 survey are only available at 2 km resolution.

Purpose

The objectives of the survey were threefold: a) to conduct a full survey of the known range; b) to survey areas bordering the known range to assess potential range expansion; c) to cover sites with recent records of cirl buntings.

Data quality

These data have been gathered by trained field-workers and the data are of a high quality. These data have been mapped and checked for sensitivities and typographical/geographical errors.

Methods

The survey area was derived from the occupied tetrads (2km x 2km squares) found in 1989, in addition to those tetrads known to have been occupied in subsequent years. In an attempt to identify potential range expansion, areas around the core tetrads were also surveyed. Each tetrad was visited at least twice during the breeding season. The first visit was made between mid April and the end of May, the second between the beginning of June and the end of August, with a minimum of two weeks between each visit. Some tetrads were visited four times. The tetrads were surveyed by walking public rights-of-way and areas of public open space. Permission to enter private land was sought where necessary. The tetrad coverage was directly comparable with every cirl bunting survey in southern Britain since 1989. Locations of any cirl buntings seen or heard were recorded on a map of the tetrad using standard BTO mapping symbols to denote their behaviour and breeding status. <br><br>

The cirl bunting is a difficult species to detect at very low densities, when song activity may be infrequent. Consequently, there is a possibility that some birds have been missed in tetrads at the edge of the range. The UK population estimate must still be regarded as a minimum as it is likely that concerted search effort allowing unlimited access in the tetrads would pick up more territories.<br><br>

In order to verify records and validate the dataset, the data have been mapped and thoroughly checked. Geographical checks have included comparing the distribution with that shown in the published paper and ensuring that records with the same area name are located close to each other.

Citation

No citation information available.

Rights

CC-BY

Usage statistics

Loading...

Digitised records

Looking up... the number of records that can be accessed through the NBN Atlas.

Click to view records for the Cirl bunting national surveys in the UK resource.

Data access

View records Download usage stats Alert me about new records Alert me about annotations

Date created: 2017-03-30
Metadata updated: 2017-06-16

Citations

DOI https://doi.org/10.15468/rk6crr    9 citations for these data

Licence

Creative Commons with Attribution 4.0 4.0 Creative Commons with Attribution 4.0 4.0

Temporal scope

1989-03-29 - 2009-08-31

Location

The Lodge
Potton Road, Sandy
Bedfordshire SG19 2DL

dataunit@rspb.org.uk

Contact

Conservation Data Management Unit
email this contact

Web site

Visit the data resource's website

NBN Atlas Partnership

National Biodiversity NetworkAtlas of Living AustraliaNatural EnglandNatural Resources WalesScottish Environment Protection AgencyWelsh GovernmentScottish Natural HeritageNorthern Ireland Environment Agency
back to top
  • Species
  • Locations
    • Search by polygon
    • Explore by address, postcode or location
    • Explore by pre-defined area
  • Analyse
  • Get Involved
    • Submit a sighting – individuals
    • Share your data – organisations
    • NBN Atlas Citations
    • Donate / Support the NBN Atlas and the NBN Trust
    • Sign up for our Newsletter
    • NBN Conference
  • Data and Partners
    • Search for a Data Partner
    • Search NBN Atlas datasets
    • Advanced record search
    • Species lists
  • About
    • About NBN Atlas
    • NBN Atlas Citations
    • Join or Donate
  • Help
NBN Atlas

© NBN Atlas Partnership 2017.

  • Terms of use
  • Privacy policy

Join the conversation

Twitter

Ask a question

Use our online forum to join the conversation about nature in the UK.

Go to the NBN Forum

Supported by the heritage fundFairs Fair