Nest Record Scheme
The Nest Record Scheme gathers vital information on the breeding success of Britain's birds by asking volunteers to find and follow the progress of individual birds' nests.
Each year, hundreds of volunteers submit observations of nests they have monitored to the Nest Record Scheme. Their data are used to assess the impacts that changes in the environment, such as habitat loss and global warming, have on the number of fledglings that birds can rear. Anyone can be a nest recorder: some people watch a single nest box in their back garden while others find and monitor multiple nests of a whole range of species. As with all BTO surveys, the welfare of birds comes first and all nest recorders follow the NRS Code of Conduct, a protocol designed to ensure that monitoring a nest does not influence its outcome.
Time / skill required
Project timeline
- Early Feb - look out for early nesters like Long-tailed Tit
- Late Apr - most residents and migrants now nesting
- Early Sep - still time for late nesters like Goldfinch and Woodpigeon
- End Oct - records needed for early analysis of the season
- End Jan - records needed for full analysis of the season
Contributions & findings
- Climate change related to earlier egg laying
- Timing mismatches between trees, caterpillars and birds
- Climate change: from egg laying to multi-taxa modelling
- Understanding drivers of population change
- Citizen scientists help uncover mysteries behind House Sparrow population declines
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