Data on breeding birds is eagerly awaited

THE conservation of nature depends on us knowing where the species are, the number of individuals and whether this number is increasing or decreasing.

When it comes to birds the most important source of this information is the Atlas of Irish Breeding Birds. But this is based on data obtained between 1988 and 1991.

So the fact that the information is being updated is important. Between 2007 and 2011 thousands of ornithologists, professional and amateur, counted both breeding birds and winter migrants all over Ireland and Britain. Both voluntary organisations and state bodies are involved but in the Republic the work is coordinated by BirdWatch Ireland, a sister organisation of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds in Britain.