The BBS is the main source of population trend information about the UK’s widespread birds – an important indicator of the health of the countryside. We can only produce trends for birds found on 40 or more BBS squares, so the more squares covered, the more species we can monitor. With just a small increase in BBS coverage, we should be able to produce BBS trends for birds such as Little Egret, Peregrine and Barn Owl, among others.

Taking part is easy – just visit a local square twice during the breeding season, and record all birds you see or hear. If you would like to take on a BBS square in 2009, click here to register.

Scottish Woodlands.
We are trying to increase BBS coverage in under-represented habitats, and are enhancing coverage in Scotland with Scottish Woodland BBS squares, in partnership with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Forestry Commission. If you live in Scotland, and you’d like to help, click here to contact your BBS Regional Organiser.

Survey Butterflies on your BBS Square!
We are pleased to announce the launch of the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey, a joint project between BTO, Butterfly Conservation and CEH.

If you'd like to survey butterflies on your BBS square, email bbs@bto.org or click here for further details. Free ID guides are provided.

Enter your counts on BBS-Online
You can enter your BBS counts directly to BBS-Online from your field recording sheets. Click here to find out how to get set up for next year.

BBS and the Atlas
Your BBS records will automatically be passed
to the Bird Atlas 2007-11 in the form of Roving Records. However, if you confirm breeding for a locally scarce species whilst carrying out the survey it would be worth reporting the record online at www.birdatlas.net, or on a Roving Record form available from BTO.

FREE bird call CD!
A CD of the songs and calls of over 70 British species is available free of charge to new BBS volunteers – just ask your Regional Organiser. Volunteers surveying upland squares will also receive a second CD of upland bird songs and calls.

2007 BBS Report available!
Latest BBS figures show that woodland birds continue to decline, while species such as Stonechat, Buzzard and Nuthatch are increasing. Over 3,600 BBS squares were surveyed in 2007, allowing us to produce UK population trends for 104 of our breeding bird species. For many of these we can also produce population trends for the separate countries in the UK, and even in different regions of England, allowing us to compare local and national trends. Click here to download the full report.

If you covered a square in 2008, you'll receive a copy of the 2008 BBS Report when available.