Banbury Ornithological Society - Winter Random Square Survey: 21 or 22 February 2026

A survey where observers are each given a randomly selected 1km square and record all species and numbers of each for a minimum period of 2 hours between 9am and Noon.

Aims:

to gather detailed information on all winter species so that, over time, we have a measure of birds across the whole area of the BOS;
to provide data used to identify trends in both abundance and distribution of winter species.

The results of this survey are combined with those of the previous November WRSS to obtain a winter total. This survey began in 1975 and is one of the longest running in the country.

To participate in the survey, please contact the BOS Bird Recorder: Contacts

For further details see Winter Random Square 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 ...

Fieldwork

Winter Random Square Survey: 21 or 22 February 2026

The BOS Curlew Recovery Project

9 February 2026 - Meeting via Zoom @ 7.30pm