This morning I did the second, and final, summer walk this year for the BTO Breeding Birds survey at Eltham Park. I have surveyed this area for quite a period of time now and it is interesting to look at the data over the years.
There has been some good news. House Sparrows in the survey area seem to have made a recovery from the lows seen in the 2000s and early 2010s (lowest 6 in 2014) and the number has increased to 19 this year, the highest ever count I have recorded. Tufted Duck appeared on the pond in Eltham Park for the first time this year and Jackdaw, which was not recorded in the survey before 2015 continues to be present in small numbers.
On the flip side some species although still common are showing declines. These include Woodpigeon and Carrion Crow. Perhaps most concerning is this is the second survey year when I have recorded no Common Swift during the survey. Certainly this goes along with data from my own patch where I have had odd visits by Swifts this year but certainly not the daily sighting of groups of 10 or more that were seen 10 years ago.
It is of course rather speculative to draw any conclusions from a single area surveyed twice during a summer, but it is interesting to look at the changes seen in the light of data from larger collections of results. The data from my survey combined with hundreds of others from around the country give us a fuller picture of the state of our wildlife and encourage us to act to prevent any further reduction to the both the number of species and the abundance of each species that are found.
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