The Nest Record Scheme (NRS) gathers vital information on the breeding success of Britain's birds by asking volunteers to find and follow the progress of individual birds' nests.

A Blackbird nest in a pub beer garden.

The data collected are used to produce trends in breeding performance, which help us to identify species that may be declining because of problems at the nesting stage. These trends are published in theBirdTrends report and are updated every year. NRS data also allow us to measure the impacts of pressures such as climate change on bird productivity. Please see the results page for more information on research using NRS data.

Anyone can be a nest recorder. Some people watch a single nest box in their back garden while others spend hundreds of hours finding and monitoring nests in the wider countryside.

The welfare of birds should alway come first and BTO nest recording is based on the Code of Conduct, which is a protocol designed to ensure that monitoring a nest does not influence its outcome.

	April/May 2012 nest finding courses This year we are running four more weekend training courses to teach BTO volunteers how to safely find and monitor nests in a variety of habitats. If you are a nest recorder or a ringer, or are interested in becoming one, please do join us on a course! Details and booking forms are available here.
	March 2012 Nest Record News The latest edition of the Nest Record Scheme's annual newsletter is now available, containing the latest news and results from the survey as well as articles, tips and advice from recorders themselves. nrs [at] bto [dot] org (subject: Request%20paper%20copy%20of%20Nest%20Record%20News) (Email us) to request a copy, or download it here.
	1996-2010 productivity trends Long-term productivity trends are updated annually and published in the BirdTrends Report. The latest report includes trends in laying date, clutch and brood sizes, failure rates and the number of fledglings produced per breeding attempt for 95 species.
	Field Guide to Monitoring Nests A new 256-page BTO field guide, features concise notes on nest finding and quick-reference facts and figures for 145 British and Irish breeding species, is being published on 30th June. For more information and to get hold of your copy, please see here. If you're looking for a reference list of citations from the book, please see the 'Other useful literature' section here.
	Free app for your Android smartphone We've just launched an Android smartphone 'app' that allows ringers and nest recorders to look up species information such as correct ring size in the field. For more information and a free download, please see here.

Acknowledgements

The BTO would like to thank the network of volunteers who take part in the Nest Record Scheme. Without their hard work and enthusiasm the Trust would not be able to monitor the health of the UK’s breeding birds each year.