I thought I would start a new project which is to see how many species I can identify in a 10km square centred on Churchill, Oxfordshire. In so doing I hope to get to know the area much better and to possibly uncover some unexpected species. I thought one or two of you might be interested in following me in my endeavour.
Location: The area is bounded by the following coordinates SP230190, SP230290, SP330190, SP330290 and includes the town of Chipping Norton.
Strategy: I have broken the 10km square down into 25 tetrads for ease of trip management, and it is my intention to also see as many species in each tetrad as well as the square as a whole. I plan to target species for each trip starting with the more common species, but will record other species seen in each tetrad.
Time: As long as it takes or until I get bored.
Counties: 25% of this patch falls in Gloucestershire; 74.75% falls in Oxfordshire and .25% falls in Warwickshire.
Villages: The following villages are in this patch: Adlestrop; Oddington; Bledington; Idbury; Cornwell; Daylesford; Kingham; Bruern Abbey; Salford; Churchill; Sarsden; Lyneham; Over Norton;
Chadlington; Chilson.
Habitat: The area is in the Cotswolds and is therefore quite hilly. Altitude varies from 88m to 232m asl although most of the territory is between 100-200m asl. 1 River runs through the area entering about a third of my tetrads, this is the River Evenlode. Woodlands of varios sorts covers about 9% of the 10km square. Most of the land is given over to mixed farming. Although it has to be said that arable crops are predominant but there are a few herds of cows and flocks of sheep.
I am off now to see if I can see Woodpigeon in each of the Tetrads. I have worked out a route by car to visit each of the tetrads. I will post the results later for anyone who might be interested.
Bye for now
Steve
Interesting idea, tho' I'd have thought it would make more sense to target it tetrad by tetrad, rather than species by species - one tetrad each day, and get as many species in it each visit. A lot less driving time than visiting all 25 briefly every time!
With 3 counties involved, its going to be a problem at times remembering to send the records in to the right county recorder!
Have to confess, when I saw the thread title, I thought it was going to be about Churchill, Manitoba (Canadian arctic) :-)
Michael
Hi Michael
Thanks for your response.
I will probably vary the approach over time, but to start off I wanted to see how some very common species are spread about the 10km square. I tackled Woodpigeon this evening. I new the species was common around here but the trip showed me how abundant the species is. In 24 tetrads I found the species in less than 5 mins. Mostly it was the 1st or second species seen. In the 25th tetrad it took about 20mins. I guess size, behaviour and habitat preference makes this a very easy species to locate. I wonder if this holds true for most parts of the UK?
The problem of posting sightings to 3 recorders is always there as I do much of my birding around these 3 counties. Probably in truth I don't send in as much data as I should.
Sorry to disappoint on this Churchill being in Oxfordshire not Canada. I remember reading a site guide to that Churchill in a book written by two authors one of whom was John Gooders. From the description in the book it sounded like an interesting place to visit, but I've not managed it yet.
Tomorrow I plan to see if I can make Carrion Crow into a 100 percenter for this square. Tonight I saw it in 16 of the 25 tetrads. Tomorrow I will revisit the 9 squares I failed to locate the species in and see if I can dig out a sighting.
Cheers
Steve