Wendling Beck Opportunistic Bird Surveys

We will conduct walking surveys along transects covering a wider area of the WBEP and a wider range of habitats. Birds seen and heard along these transects will be recorded and counted. These surveys are expected to be undertaken by both volunteer and professional bird surveyors. See appendix 2 for some of these transects.

The opportunistic bird surveys will take place along a number of walking transects that have been in use at WBEP previously. Of these, the following two have been selected for more detailed assessment, with fixed PAMs installed along them. One (Dillington Carr) precisely follows part of one of WBEP’s long-standing transects and is located in high quality established habitat. The other (Spring Beck and adjacent land) efficiently incorporatres three distinct habitat types (newly established wet meadow with ponds and stream, grassland and mature dry woodland edge). These two transects are shown in Figure 1

Figure 1: Transects for comparing opportunistic observations of birds with results from PAM