Bird Atlases and Checklists

The Cambridgeshire Bird Atlas 2007–2011 provides a complete and comprehensive overview of the summer and winter distribution and abundance of birds in the county.

There are 500 detailed maps which show where 167 bird species can be found breeding or wintering. Facing the maps are expert species accounts interpreting the maps and placing them in historical and national context.

The atlas has been compiled from data collected for the British Trust for Ornithology's national UK Bird Atlas 2007–2011. That project, perhaps one of the largest examples of 'citizen science' ever undertaken, involved over 40,000 enthusiastic volunteer surveyors over four summers and winters.

For this Cambridgeshire Bird Atlas, almost a thousand contributors – from professional ornithologists to ordinary birdwatching members of the public – provided details of the birds they saw, either during timed visits to specific Ordnance Survey squares, or as roving records through the seasons. Species have been mapped at a closer level of detail than for the national atlas – at the 2 km square level; there are just short of one thousand such squares within the county boundary. Records were received from 90% of these squares.

The readable species accounts in the Cambridgeshire Bird Atlas 2007–2011 are accessible to birdwatchers, or anyone interested in wildlife, at whatever level of expertise. The Atlas maps and data are also highly relevant to local government, to schools, and to other agencies, institutions and organisations involved with planning, land-use, ecology, the environment, and nature conservation in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough.

Download a PDF of the Atlas - 124 MB