Banbury Ornithological Society - Short and Long Day Counts

Every year two full-day counts are held across the entire BOS area. The first is held in early January from 08:00-16:00 and the second in early May for 12 hours. The surveys complement the WRSS and SRSS in providing a count of the total number of species across the entire region, not just specific sites.

The surveys are conducted as a team, with the aim to field at least one team per 100-km square. For observers, the incentive is to beat the par species count of previous years, with awards given to the team most over par. A second award is provided for finding the "star" species of the day.

The comparitive results over the years supplements the findings from the other surveys, giving us confidence in the survey results.

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 ...

Short and Long Day Counts

The BOS Curlew Recovery Project

12 May 2025 - Indoor Meeting at 7.30pm

Long Day Count: 3 or 4 May 2025