fnh journal vol 24 - Forth Naturalist and Historian - University of Stirling

24 C.J. Henty
later, separated by very brief spells of dry weather. The first half of March
stayed unsettled, then a bright and sunny third week led to a changeable end.
North-east winds in early April produced two days of snow and cold
conditions, the second half was much wetter and warmer. After a warm and
dry start to May the second half became unsettled and much cooler, this
continued until the third week of June when it became very warm and then
stayed fairly dry but cloudy. Early July was warmer but still cloudy, then a
cooler spell, with torrential rain on the 9th, gave way to a sunny and warm
spell. Warm but changeable conditions dominated August and September with
only short sunny spells, there were thunderstorms in late August and periods
of heavy rain throughout September. October continued this pattern with no
settled anticyclonic spells. In November primarily cloudy and wet weather was
interrupted by only two short dry and frosty periods. Cyclonic systems made
the first half of December windy and wet, though mild; there followed two
incursions of Arctic and continental air that brought freezing temperatures and
then snow after Christmas.
The information on the breeding numbers of common species in 2000 comes
primarily from the British Trust for Ornithology’s Breeding Bird Survey. This is
based on transect counts and is now sufficiently extensive to calculate numbers
of birds recorded per ten kilometres for several habitat types, these are
regularly mentioned in the species paragraphs. For less common species I can
sometimes mention data in terms of the numbers of pairs or apparently
occupied territories for particular locations. Several observers send in a list
largely or entirely for their home locality, much of this information is not
appropriate for these annual reports but it is valuable to have on record and I
am keeping them in a special file. At the moment there are fifteen such lists
referring to the whole district from Falkirk to Killin.
For many species the records sent in are very unrepresentative of their
general distribution, this applies particularly to very common species or to
those that are secretive or breed in inaccessable places. Readers can consult the
the Check List published in the Forth Naturalist and Historian Vol 15, but in
addition I have in this report put, after the species name, a coded summary of
general distribution – which often apparently contradicts the detailed records
that are published for the year.
B - Breeding status, widespread (in more than five 10 km squares)
b “ “ , local, scarce (in fewer than five 10 km squares)
W - Winter status, widespread or often in groups of more than ten.
w - “ “ , local, scarce (local and usually fewer than ten in a group)
P - Passage (used when species is usually absent in winter, P or p used for
widespread or local as in winter status)
S or s - a few species are present in summer but do not normally breed.
Thus BW would be appropriate for Robin, B for Swallow, p for Ruff and SW
for Cormorant. No status letter is used if a species occurs less than every other
year.