Population estimates

Unlike previous Britain & Ireland atlases we have not devised and published a new set of population estimates in Bird Atlas 2007–11. To some extent this is a recognition of the fact that Atlas data would form only part of any new estimates, with data from other surveys (e.g. Breeding Bird Survey, Countryside Bird Survey, Wetland Birds Survey, Irish Wetland Birds Survey) and schemes being at least as important. Furthermore, there are now separate mechanisms by which population estimates are produced in Britain and Ireland, with new figures being derived in Ireland as the Atlas went to press.

In the United Kingdom the Avian Population Estimates Panel (APEP) produces a collation of British and UK population estimates. View the latest publication of Population estimates on birds in Great Britain and the United Kingdom.

In Ireland, BirdWatch Ireland's Olivia Crowe led the development of the first estimates of population size for common and widespread breeding birds. These were published shortly after the Atlas in a paper in the journal Bird Study.



Related content