Well in the end after almost 10 years from planning to publication the Bird Atlas 2007 - 2011 is in print. I got my copy in December 2013 and the first thing I noticed was that this is a book of proportions befitting the effort that went into producing it. It's large, it's heavy and comes in at over 700 pages. I suppose it was never going to be any different really, it contains the results from over 19 million individual records provided by thousands of volunteers over a four year period for both breeding and winter seasons.
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| The Barn Owl entry - my very own records are on there |
I spent hundreds of hours over those four years rambling up and over the lanes and fields of Co Meath, listening, looking, recording. At times it was hard, I missed out on so much that was happening around the country because of Atlas commitments. So many great birds I just never made it to, but there's no regrets, none at all, not when you have in your possession a scientific work as substantial as this to which you contributed even a small part and you see your own name in print and attached to it.
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| A page from my Winter 2008 records for South Ashbourne |
This Atlas will help shape and direct Bird Conservation throughout Ireland and Britain for the next 10 years and beyond that's how important it is. I've spent a whole lot of time over the last year and some months reading, researching and just being consumed by the facts, figures and encyclopedic knowledge contained within its pages.
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