Banbury Ornithological Society - The New Birds of the Banbury Area

The New Birds of the Banbury Area by T.G. Easterbrook is the fourth decennial (10 year) report by the BOS, covering the years 1982-1994. The report includes the full list of bird species seen in the BOS survey area up to 1994. The report features coloured charts of species distribution, abundance and habitat usage, generated from the computerised records that started back in 1976. This was a significant technical achievement at this time by a small society and shows the benefits of the digital management of bird records.

The report can be viewed and downloaded by selecting this link: The New Birds of the Banbury Area. Note that there is an 1 page addendum at the end of the report with details of species that were omitted from the Systematic List section due to a publishing issue.

The contents of the report include:

- Systematic List: a review of each species in the period 1982-1994

- Fieldwork undertaken by the BOS during the period

- Analysis of Random Square Surveys from 1975-1993

- Review of the Annual Breeding Season Survey results from 1962-1993

- Habitat changes in the decade, including the results of the BOS land use survey (Domesday Survey)

UK currently holds approximately a quarter of the global Curlew population, with estimates for England of about 30,000 pairs. National monitoring data show that this population has been in long-term decline since the 1970s and has almost halved in the UK over the last 20 years. In lowland southern England, the population has declined to about 500 pairs, with many colonies on the verge of local extinction. Read more ...

Great Black-backed Gulls: from populations to individuals - Sam Langlois from BTO Scotland

The Great Black-backed Gull is one of the North Atlantic’s most conspicuous and largest seabirds — yet much of its ecology remains poorly understood. This talk will present new insights into global population trends and foraging ecology, focusing on diet and GPS tracking studies undertaken on the Isle of May, Scotland. Read more ...

Our annual winter count, carried out by teams of observers in each of the twelve 10km square, to record the number of bird species seen between 8am and 4pm. Read more ...

The New Birds of the Banbury Area - 1982-1994

The BOS Curlew Recovery Project

9 February 2026 - Meeting via Zoom @ 7.30pm

Short day count: 3 or 4 January 2026