The BOS covers a diverse range of habitats, from low level floodlands of the river Cherwell to the heights of Edge Hill and the Cotswolds. It also spans three major river systems of England - the Thames, Severn and Great Ouse. For a map of the area, see BOS area map.

As part of our fieldwork, we publish a detailed map showing the locations of recommended bird watching sites - see BOS Sites. The names of the sites are given in the BOS Guide for Observers.

Note that the BOS area will be affected by the construction of HS2 - see this article for details: HS2 Route Across the BOS.

The table below lists the top 10 sites ranked by the number of species observed, for the years 2007-2016. Many of these sites are reserves managed by the BOS and most are associated with water. Our reserves are listed here: BOS Reserves.

  Grid Number of Species Site Name
1 SP4542 148 Grimsbury Reservoir
2 SP4953 145 Boddington Reservoir
3 SP3942 143 Balscote Quarry
4 SP4451 139 Wormleighton Reservoir
5 SP5721 119 Bicester Wetland Reserve
6 SP4643 112 Upper Cherwell Valley
7 SP3226 96 Glyme Farm
8 SP4541 95 Spiceball Country Park
9 SP4249 94 Farnborough Park
10 SP3558 91 Chesterton Pools

 

The picture below shows the species density for each 1km square of the BOS area for the years 1982-2019 - the shading of the square reflects the number of species recorded. The figures in each square show the number of species recorded at that location. The numbers on the outside are the OS 1km grid references for the 100km square SP, shown as Eastings and Northings, just as they are on Ordnance Survey maps. The map shows there are many other good locations to observe birds, including the whole of the Cherwell valley.

Species Density 1982 2016

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 ...

Uzbekistan:  Birding the Silk Road in Central Asia  -  Alan Peter

A spectacular and little-visited country lying on the famous Silk Road that once connected the East with the West and one of the group of former Soviet republics which border it on three sides - Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan while it’s southern border touches Afghanistan. Read more ...

The Long Day Count is carried out by teams of observers in each of the twelve 10km squares recording the number of bird species seen during a maximum of 12 daylight hours on the second Sunday in May each year. Read more ...

Website designed and built by Garganey Consulting