Die V ogelwelt Beiträge zur Vogelkunde 137. Jahrgang 2017 Heft 1 Birds in a changing world Bundesamt für Naturschutz AULA-Verlag Manuskriptrichtlinien Impressum Manuskripte: Manuskripte werden als E-Mail-Anlage oder auf CD an einen der 1/2017 Herausgeber erbeten. Die Dateien müssen Windows-kompatibel sein und sollten vorzugsweise unter MS WORD oder als rtf-Datei gespeichert sein. Bitte vermeiden Sie jede Formatierung (außer 137. Jahrgang Autorennamen in Kapitälchen) und Worttrennungen. Arbeiten können in Deutsch oder Englisch abgefasst sein und enthalten ISSN 0042-7993 www.vogelwelt.com Legenden und eine Zusammenfassung in der jeweils anderen Herausgeber dieser Ausgabe: Sprache. Malte Busch, Kai Gedeon, Martin Flade und Volker Dierschke in Zusammen arbeit mit dem Aufbau der Arbeit: Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA). Originalarbeiten beginnen mit einem Summary, in dem Ziele, Datenumfang und die wichtigsten Ergebnisse genannt werden. Anschriften: Hinsichtlich Aufbau der Arbeit, Zitierweise, Tabellenformaten Martin Flade, Brodowiner Dorfstr. 60, D-16230 Brodowin (bitte mit Tabulatoren, nicht mit Leerzeichen eingeben) und Li- Tel. dienstl.: 0 33 34-66 27 20, Tel. pr.: 03 33 62-7 01 23 teraturverzeichnis orientiere sich der Autor am Muster des jeweils E-Mail: [email protected] neuesten Heftes. Der Text soll auf das Wesentliche konzentriert Volker Dierschke, Tönnhäuser Dorfstr. 20, D-21423 Winsen und verständlich sein. (Luhe), Tel.: 0 41 79-75 09 18, E-Mail: [email protected] Abbildungen: Abbildungsvorlagen sind als Original, als Datei, als Film oder Schriftleitung: sehr guter Schwarz-Weiß-Abzug einzureichen. Handschriftliche Malte Busch und Christopher König oder Schablonenbeschriftung sollten vermieden werden; Origi- c/o Dachverband Deutscher Avifaunisten e. V. 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Jede Verwertung, die nicht ausdrücklich vom Urheberrechtsgesetz zugelassen ist, bedarf der Fotos: Feldlerche Alauda arvensis von H. Glader (oben vorherigen Zustimmung des Verlages. Dies gilt insbesondere für Ver- vielfältigungen, Bearbeitungen, Übersetzungen, Mikroverfilmungen rechts) und M. Schäf und die Einspeicherung und Verarbeitung in elektronischen Systemen. Karte: Pilot map from the European Breeding Bird Atlas Zum Abdruck angenommene Arbeiten und Abbildungen gehen in EBBA2: Probability of occurence – Pilotkarte des zweiten das uneinschränkte Nutzungsrecht – sowohl in gedruckter als auch in elektronischer Form – des Verlages über, wenn nichts anderes schriftlich Europäischen Brutvogelatlas EBBA2: Vorkommenswahrschein- vereinbart wurde. lichkeit der Feldlerche © EBCC EBCC Foreword Vorwort des EBCC It is my pleasure to present you, as two issues of Die Es ist mir eine große Freude, Ihnen den Tagungsband zur Vogelwelt, the Proceedings of the 20th International 20. Internationalen Konferenz des European Bird Cen- Conference of the European Bird Census Council sus Council (EBCC) aufgeteilt auf zwei Ausgaben der (EBCC) held at the University of Halle (Saale) in Ger- Zeitschrift Die Vogelwelt zu präsentieren. Die Tagung many on September 5-9, 2016 and hosted by Dachver- fand vom 5. bis 9. September 2016 an der Martin Luther band Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA). The conference Universität in Halle (Saale) statt und wurde vom Dach- was themed “Birds in a changing world”. The Procee- verband Deutscher Avifaunisten (DDA) organisiert. Das dings cover 30 papers that reflect the variety of topics Motto der Konferenz lautete „Birds in a changing world“. and themes addressed in the plenaries, talks and posters Der Tagungsband umfasst 30 Beiträge, die die Vielfalt of this conference. The papers are a nice illustration of der in den Plenarvorträgen, Vorträgen und Postern how vivid the European Bird Census Council network behandelten Themen reflektieren. Die Beiträge veran- is and what progress we have made. I thank all of the schaulichen sehr schön die außerordentliche Vitalität contributors for their efforts. des EBCC-Netzwerkes. Allen Mitwirkenden sei an dieser Stelle herzlich für ihre Anstrengungen gedankt. Very special thanks to DDA and in particular Kai Gedeon and Malte Busch for their very hard work in Für ihre harte Arbeit an den Proceedings möchte ich bringing this publication forwards. The DDA set a sharp mich beim DDA und hier insbesondere bei Kai Gedeon record in the time needed to produce the Proceedings und Malte Busch bedanken. Der Tagungsband wurde and it kind of reflects the excellent and efficient way in rekordverdächtiger Zeit erstellt – einmal mehr ein the conference was organized. Beleg für die exzellente und effiziente Organisation der gesamten Konferenz. I would also like to thank the Scientific Committee, which I was honoured to chair, for their assistance in Ich hatte die Ehre dem wissenschaftlichen Konferenz- reviewing the papers: Mark Eaton, Stefan Garthe, Kai komitee vorzusitzen und möchte an dieser Stelle herzlich Gedeon, Henning Heldbjerg, Oskars Keiss, Verena Kel- Mark Eaton, Stefan Garthe, Kai Gedeon, Henning Held- ler, Aleksi Lehikoinen and David Noble. bjerg, Oskars Keiss, Verena Keller, Aleksi Lehikoinen und David Noble für die Unterstützung bei der Begut- Once more we wish to express our gratitude to the achtung der eingereichten Manuskripte danken. Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) for their financial support of the conference. Moreover, Ausdrücklich möchten wir dem Bundesamt für Natur- we would like to thank all sponsors of the conference: schutz (BfN) für die finanzielle Unterstützung der BioTrack, Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, Christ Media Natur, Konferenz danken. Darüber hinaus möchten wir uns Lynx, nhbs and Schwegler. bei allen Sponsoren der Konferenz bedanken: BioTrack, Ruud P. B. Foppen, Carl Zeiss Sports Optics, Christ Media Natur, Lynx, nhbs Chair European Bird Census Council und Schwegler. Ruud P. B. Foppen, Vorsitzender des European Bird Census Council The mandatory group picture of the conference participants next to the conference venue. – Das obligatorische Gruppenfoto der Konferenzteilnehmer neben dem Tagungsort. Photo: K. Berlin Foreword DDA and BfN Vorwort des DDA und des BfN After conferences of the former International Bird Cen- Nach Konferenzen des früheren International Bird Cen- sus Committee (IBCC) in 1979 in Göttingen and the sus Committee (IBCC) im Jahr 1979 in Göttingen und EBCC in 1998 in Cottbus, Bird Numbers 2016 was the des EBCC im Jahr 1998 in Cottbus war Bird Numbers third International Bird Census Conference in Ger- 2016 die dritte internationale Konferenz zum Vogel- many. Under the heading “Birds in a changing world” monitoring, die in Deutschland durchgeführt wurde. the conference sessions covered the following topics: Unter dem Motto „Birds in a changing world“ umfasste biodiversity indicators; causes of change in bird popula- die Konferenz Sitzungen zu den folgenden Themen: tions and societal responses; online portal observations: Biodiversitätsindikatoren; Ursachen für Bestandsver- developments and challenges; climate change impacts; änderungen und gesellschaftliche Reaktionen; Online- new atlas studies; species distribution modelling; land Beobachtungsportale: Entwicklungen und Herausforde- use change impacts on farmland, in woodland and rungen; Auswirkungen des Klimawandels; neue Atlas- in other habitats; surveys and monitoring of breed- studien; Artverbreitungsmodellierung; Auswirkungen ing birds; methodologies and technologies; surveys von Landnutzungsänderungen im Agrarland, Wald und and monitoring of waterbirds; evaluating the effects anderen Habitaten; Erfassung und Monitoring von Brut- of conservation action and policy. Moreover, several vögeln; Methoden und Technologien; Erfassung und workshops addressing EBCC initiatives like the sec- Monitoring von Wasservögeln; Evaluierung von Schutz- ond European Breeding Bird Atlas (EBBA2) and the maßnahmen und Politiken. Darüber hinaus fanden EuroBirdPortal, as well as methodological advances to mehrere Workshops zu verschieden EBCC Initiativen analyse bird monitoring data, took place. wie dem zweiten europäischen Brutvogelatlas (EBBA2) und dem EuroBirdPortal sowie zu methodischen Neue- Altogether about 250 participants from more than rungen bei der Analyse von Vogelmonitoringdaten statt. 50 countries attended the conference and made it an international platform for the exchange of ideas and Insgesamt kamen rund 250 Teilnehmer/innen aus über knowledge about the monitoring and distribution of 50 Ländern zusammen und machten die Konferenz zu birds, threats and conservation. einer internationalen Plattform für den Austausch von Ideen und Wissen zur Verbreitung und dem Monito- The Proceedings are split over two issues of Die Vogel- ring von Vögeln sowie deren Gefährdung und Schutz. welt. We grouped the manuscripts as much as possible and in accordance with the conference sessions. The Der Tagungsband besteht aus zwei Ausgaben von Die first issue covers contributions on atlas studies and the Vogelwelt. Die erste Ausgabe umfasst Beiträge zu monitoring of breeding birds, it starts with a descrip- Atlasstudien und zum Brutvogelmonitoring, sie beginnt tion of the historical development of the EBCC and the mit einem Beitrag über die historische Entstehungs- first European Breeding Bird Atlas. This contribution geschichte des EBCC und des ersten europäischen authored by Jeremy Greenwood, former chairman of Brutvogelatlas. Dieser Beitrag des ehemaligen Vorsit- the EBCC, is based on a plenary talk he gave at the 2013 zenden des EBCC, Jeremy Greenwood, basiert auf einem EBCC conference in Cluj, Romania and nicely intro- Plenarvortrag, den dieser 2013 auf der vorangegangenen duces the section on atlas studies, being a prominent EBCC Konferenz im rumänischen Cluj hielt. topic at Bird Numbers 2016. Die zweite Ausgabe umfasst Beiträge zum Monitoring Issue two covers the monitoring of staging and winter- rastender und überwinternder Vögel, dem Einfluss von ing birds, papers on land use impacts, the habitat and Nutzungsänderungen, zu Lebensräumen und der Ver- distribution of birds, as well as a few topics discussed breitung von Vögeln sowie zu weitere Einzelthemen. only by single contributions. Wir bedanken uns an dieser Stelle noch einmal herzlich The Proceedings provide an interesting insight into cur- beim EBCC und allen, die an der Planung, Finanzie- rent ornithological assessments and studies in Europe rung und Umsetzung der Konferenz beteiligt waren, and abroad and we wish to thank the EBCC and eve- für ihre kooperative Unterstützung. ryone involved in planning, funding and conducting the conference for their cooperative support. Bei den Leserinnen und Lesern der Vogelwelt bedan- ken wir uns für das Verständnis, dass die Beiträge auf Malte Busch, Rainer Dröschmeister, Englisch erscheinen. Nur so können wir den vielen Inte- Kai Gedeon, Christoph Sudfeldt ressenten in ganz Europa einen Einblick in die neuesten for the National Organising Committee Entwicklungen im Vogelmonitoring, der Vogelforschung und Atlaskartierungen geben. Malte Busch, Rainer Dröschmeister, Kai Gedeon, Christoph Sudfeldt für das nationale Organisationskomitee VOGELWELT 137: 3–18 (2017) 3 The History of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds Jeremy J. D. Greenwood Greenwood, J. J. D. 2017: The History of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds. Vogel- welt 137: 3–18. Developing from a series of meetings aimed at greater international collaboration in ornithol- ogy, the European Ornithological Atlas Committee was set up in 1972. It began by promoting atlas surveys in individual countries but it was soon realized that a Europe-wide atlas could be produced from national surveys if common standards were adopted. 1985-88 was agreed as the common survey period. Unfortunately, committee meetings were too infrequent and indecisive to produce clear plans for collating the data and publishing the atlas; funding for that work was not arranged. The project came close to foundering. However, having raised these issues at the 1987 meeting, Johan Bekhuis and colleagues at SOVON took matters forward more decisively, with the support of Goetz Rheinwald especially. Under the chairmanship of the latter, a more focused committee was set up in 1992, not only directing the collation and editing work being undertaken at SOVON and the BTO but also raising funds from various sources. The production of the atlas was greatly aided by the publisher attending all the committee meetings. To promote the drawing together of ornithology across Europe, large numbers of free copies were provided for countries in the east when the atlas was published in 1997. Key words: European atlas, history, collaboration 1. Introduction: the development of ornithological atlases The EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds (Hage- Lack, Goetz Rheinwald, Andy Richford, Frank Saris, meijer & Blair 1997), commonly known at the time and Tim Sharrock. All the documents that I have as the European Ornithological Atlas (EOA), was a used in preparing the paper will be placed in the BTO landmark both in European ornithology and in bio- archives; all the electronic files that I have used will logical atlas work. My aim here is to relate the long and also be placed in the BTO archives and in the EBCC tortuous story of how the germ of the idea eventually archive at SOVON. led to the publication of the book, not only because it is a fascinating story in its own right but also because it 1.1 Distribution maps before atlases has clear lessons for anyone engaged in planning atlas The Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe work or in the development of organizations devoted (Peterson et al. 1954) broke new ground in several to international collaboration in natural history. The ways. One was that it presented maps to indicate the story necessarily reflects my own interpretations but, distribution of the species it included. The reason they after a lifetime in science, I have tried to be as objec- were included was that during the Second World War tive as possible. In several parts of the account, I have one of the authors, P. A. D. Hollom, had served in the been critical of what was done (or, perhaps more often, Hendon VIP Squadron, the duties of which were to what was not done); such criticism is not meant to infer fly important people and important packages between that I would have done things differently had I been Britain and distant lands. Although he took the relevant involved at the time – after all, I was involved for part bird books wherever he went, Hollom was often frus- of the time. Rather, it applies the benefits of hindsight, trated by the inadequacy of their descriptions of the so that lessons can be drawn for the future. distributions of the birds, which made it difficult for To avoid repetition, I have not specifically referred him to know which species you might expect to see. to the following sources of information used in this Maps, he decided, would have been much more useful account: the Atlas itself; reports of conferences of the (interview, 23rd May 2007). IBCC, EOAC and EBCC (listed in the Appendix); the The problem with all distribution maps at the time archives of SOVON and BTO; my own memories and was that they were based on general descriptions or on those of others involved in the Atlas project, especially records from a few scattered locations, with the pres- Anny Anselin, Johan Bekhuis, Rob Bijlsma, Mike Blair, ence or absence of the species between those locations Nigel Clark, Simon Gillings, Ward Hagemeijer, Peter being a matter largely of guesswork. Information was 4 J. J. D. GREENWOOD : The History of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds often out of date and sometimes incorrect. Further- more, the available information was insufficiently precise for the maps to distinguish between distribu- tions that were essentially continuous and those that were patchy on the small scale. Even the important and scholarly atlas of Voous (1960) suffered from these deficiencies. 1.2 Atlases in the modern sense The solution to these problems was to conduct sys- tematic surveys, recording the presence or apparent absence of each species in defined geographical areas. Such a survey was planned by British and Irish botanists in 1950, resulting in the Atlas of the British Flora (Per- ring & Walters 1962). Ornithologists lagged behind – indeed, the influential ornithologist and conservation- ist E. M. Nicholson, who had founded the British Trust Fig. 1: Founders of the IBCC: Sören Svensson (First Chair- for Ornithology (BTO) (Greenwood 2007), said that man, left) and Ken Williamson (first Secretary, right). Car- toons drawn by N. K. Boev and B. Frocot, published in the the botanists had put ornithologists to shame (Preston proceedings of the 1976 conference. – Die Gründer des IBCC: 2013). They soon rose to the challenge, with the West Sören Svensson (erster Vorsitzender, links) und Ken Williamson Midland Bird Club surveying the 77 10x10km squares (erster Schriftführer, rechts). Karikaturen von N. K. Boev und B. (hectads) in its area during 1966-68 and publishing the Frocot, publiziert im Tagungsband der Konferenz im Jahr 1976. results as the first ornithological atlas in the modern sense (Lord & Munns 1970). The whole enterprise was carried out by unpaid volunteers. 2.2 Thoughts of atlases Observing the success of the West Midlands Bird During the week before the next IOC, held in The Club, the BTO undertook an atlas survey for the whole Hague in 1970, the IBCC held two further meetings. of Britain and Ireland during 1968-72 (Sharrock Given that only two countries had yet started national 1976). France was surveyed during 1970-75 (Yeatman atlas surveys, it is remarkable that the discussions at 1976) and Denmark during 1971-74 (Dybbro 1976); these meetings were mainly about atlas work, with little several other countries were quick to follow these leads. about census work. The main conclusions were: • Standardisation was less important for atlases than for census work, though it was important to agree cri- 2. How the European atlas project started teria to be used in establishing breeding in any area. 2.1 International Bird Census Committee (IBCC) • It was better to use a regular grid of recording units At the International Ornithological Congress (IOC), rather than administrative divisions. The grid size held in Oxford in 1966, a small group of ornitholo- should be as fine as compatible with the available gists who were interested in developing census work manpower. on breeding birds decided to organise a conference • If it was not possible to cover all units in the grid, to review modern census studies and to discuss the it was better to cover an even scatter of units rather standardisation of fieldwork and methods of analysis than to cover clusters of adjacent units. (Pinowski & Williamson 1974 – who provide fur- • It was suggested that 1970-1980 should be an “Inter- ther information on developments during 1966-70). national Bird Atlas Decade”, during which as many The result was the International Study Conference on countries as possible should complete atlas surveys. Bird Census Methods and Results held in Denmark in 2.3 The European Ornithological Atlas 1968. To continue the work, the conference set up the Committee (EOAC) IBCC, with Sören Svensson as Chairman and Ken Wil- liamson as Secretary. Next year, during a symposium At the IOC itself there was a formal “Special Meeting” on Bird Census Work and Environmental Monitoring to promote international cooperation and uniformity in Sweden, the IBCC had its first formal meeting and in bird census and atlas methods. Of more immedi- adopted a set of recommendations for an international ate and more practical significance was an informal standard for a mapping method in bird census work, of meeting of 10 people from seven countries to discuss which a draft had been presented to the 1968 meeting the possibility of holding a conference devoted to such by Svensson and S. M. (Mike) Taylor. It was agreed cooperation. The conference, co-organized by the BTO at this meeting that the Committee would cover all and the Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie/ aspects of census work except atlases. Vogelwarte Radolfzell, was held the next year in Tring, VOGELWELT 137: 3–18 (2017) 5 England. It covered a great range of topics: censuses, though this idea was later dropped because it was real- estuarine birds, seabirds, nest recording, habitat cod- ised that such a card would inevitably contain many ing, biometrics, recording moult, migration data and species that did not occur in whatever country was atlases (Flegg & Zink 1973). being surveyed. EURING numbers were used to ensure Tim Sharrock had been asked to provide a strong unambiguous recording. launch of the idea of a European Ornithological Atlas at the Tring meeting, though a bout of influenza con- 3. Conducting the business of EOAC, fined him to bed, so James Ferguson-Lees had to 1971-92 make the presentation on his behalf (Sharrock e-mail, 8th August 2013). It was clear to him, after four of the 3.1 Immediate work five years planned fieldwork, that the British and Irish In February 1972, 10 weeks after the Tring meeting, Atlas “would be an outstanding success and of great the minutes were circulated by the Joint Conveners, value biologically and to conservation. Enthusiasm had together with their recommendations for categories grown steadily (...) in the face of a large body of doubt of breeding evidence to be used in the EOA, which in the early years. Other countries considering starting were similar to those used in the British & Irish atlas. atlases should bear this ability to generate enthusiasm A second newsletter followed in April, with a slightly in mind.” In response, a working group chaired by Ein- revised list of the categories of breeding evidence, fol- hard Bezzel set up the EOAC, with Tim Sharrock and lowing feedback from delegates. This was given wider Tommy Dybbro (organizer of the Danish atlas) as “Joint circulation in a published report (Sharrock 1973). Conveners” and one delegate per country (preferably The final version of this list is shown in the Atlas. It the organiser of the national atlas, where there was one). differs from the April 1972 version only in that one Notable among the early delegates were Laurent Yeat- of the categories of breeding evidence, which in 1972 man and Goetz Rheinwald. Yeatman was the organizer was shown as “agitated behaviour or anxiety calls sug- of the French atlas and Rheinwald made up for lack of gesting nest or young nearby”, lost its last five words experience in atlas work by throwing himself into the in the final version. organization of various atlases in Germany (e. g. Rhein- wald et al. 1984, Rheinwald et al. 1987, Rheinwald 3.2 Conferences and committee meetings 1993) and by his increasingly active participation in The IBCC suggested a joint conference with EOAC in the work of the EOAC. 1972 and further joint conferences were held every 2 to The purposes of EOAC were laid down as: 4 years thereafter (Appendix 1). The conferences were • To encourage national Atlas projects in as many Euro- important not only because they allowed the exchange pean countries as possible, coordinating national of ideas but also because they were the only occasions schemes to obtain uniformity of methods. when the EOAC met. (For some reason, forgotten now • To promote a European Atlas project, using data even by the then Chairman, it did not meet at the 1981 from national schemes and encouraging work within conference, though there were atlas talks on the agenda countries were no national scheme exists. and some EOAC delegates attended). At the 1972 meet- ing it was decided to conduct business between meet- Here was a fundamental step forward: the idea that a ings by correspondence but the archives suggest that European Ornithological Atlas (EOA) would be pro- little was done in this respect. There is not even any duced, not merely a Europe-wide set of national atlases. evidence that the minutes were routinely circulated It was, however, considered that the differences between during 1972-83 except in the conference proceedings, countries in the way in which ornithology was organ- which usually did not appear until two years after the ised made complete integration too difficult; the EOA meetings. would simply use the data from national atlases. But the From 1985 onwards no minutes appeared in the European project could not work if the national surveys proceedings but minutes for 1985 and 1987 are held were completely independent. Thus it was agreed that in the EBCC archives; it is not clear when they were fieldwork for the EOA itself would take place during circulated. No minutes have been found for the 1989 1985-88, using the experience gained from national meeting though there are handwritten notes made by atlases undertaken before then. Although countries R. J. Fuller in the BTO archives. (The chairman was too were encouraged to use a hectad or finer grid for their ill to attend the meeting and EOA business was being national atlases, it was recognised that not all of them taken forward by small group of activists, so it seems had enough manpower to work on this scale; recording likely that formal minutes were indeed not produced.) for the EOA would use a 50x50 km (quarter myriad) It is clear from the minutes that the long gaps between grid. meetings and the paucity of communication during To encourage countries that did not have a national these gaps slowed down the work of the EOAC and scheme, the committee decided to produce a standard even allowed momentum to be dissipated. There were recording card that could be used anywhere in Europe, various reasons why matters were not better organised. 6 J. J. D. GREENWOOD : The History of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds One is simply that this was the first time that such close Albania, Germany (East), Iceland, Greece, USSR collaboration between ornithologists across Europe had (except Estonia) were never represented. been attempted. Another is that those working on the EOA were not doing so as part of their paid employ- Countries Persons attending – Teilnehmer ment; even for those employed to organise national with delegates Delegates – Total atlases the EOA was peripheral to their main work. – Länder mit Delegierte Thirdly, communication was then much more difficult Delegierten than it is today: there was no e-mail; fax was not readily 1971 11 11 11 available even in the best funded institutes until the late 1972 12 7 7 1980s; international phone calls were expensive and 1976 18 11 13 sometimes difficult to make; low-cost air travel did not 1979 22 13 16 start in Europe until well into the 1990s. 1983 22 7 9 3.3 Officers 1985 23 11 13 At first, most EOAC work was managed by the Joint 1987 24 12 13 Convenors. Dybbro had to step down in 1976, so the EOAC was reconstituted, with Sharrock as Chairman Unfortunately, even when delegates had been appointed, and Pierre Devillers (Belgium) as Treasurer. Keeping in they often failed to attend meetings. Only six countries touch with delegates and recruiting delegates not so far were represented at every meeting and delegates of represented was a considerable task, made more bur- three others never attended. The average attendance densome at that time by the division of Europe by the at EOAC meetings was less than 60 % of the number Iron Curtain. Two Joint Secretaries (Zdzisław Bogucki, of countries that had appointed delegates: Poland, and Laurent Yeatman, France) were therefore Such poor attendance, resulting no doubt from the appointed, to divide the work between them. In 1979, long intervals between meetings and the poor com- Karel Šťastný (Czechoslovakia) became Eastern Sec- munication, combined with the political divisions retary and, following Yeatman’s early death, Francisco of Europe and the costs of travel, must have further Purroy (Spain) became Western Secretary. reduced the effectiveness of the committee. 3.4 Delegates 4. Progress in the 1970s If the EOA was to succeed, a delegate was needed from every country. The Joint Convenors, the Secretaries and 4.1 Area and species to be covered others, approached contacts in each country for ideas, The committee addressed some important basic issues often having to follow a chain of suggestions until they in 1972. In a document circulated to delegates in April found someone prepared to become the Atlas delegate. 1972, Sharrock presented a provisional list of 417 Euro- The countries from which delegates were newly pean breeding species, asking delegates to check that it appointed, as announced at the EOAC meetings, were was correct and complete. This prompted discussion as follows: of exactly what area the EOA should cover. The deci- 1971 Bulgaria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany sion at this stage was based partly on considerations of (West), Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Swit- biogeography, so European Turkey was to be included, zerland, United Kingdom and partly on practical considerations, so Spitsbergen 1972 Belgium and USSR were to be excluded. (In the end the Atlas 1976 Czechoslovakia, Estonia, Ireland, Spain, Turkey, attempted to cover the whole of what biogeographers Yugoslavia recognise as Europe – shown in Figure 1 of the Atlas). 1979 Hungary, Malta, Norway, Romania The document also, not surprisingly, stimulated 1983 none discussions on which introduced species were to be 1985 Austria included and which subspecies should be separately 1987 Portugal Fig: 2: Early officers of the EOAC: Tim Sharrock (first Chair- man, left), Laurent Yeatman (first Western Secretary, centre) and Francisco Purroy (Western Secretary after Yeatman died, right). Cartoons drawn by N. K. Boev and B. Frocot, pub- lished in the proceedings of the 1976 conference. – Frühe EOAC Funktionäre: Tim Sharrock (erster Vorsitzender, links), Laurent Yeatman (erster Schriftführer West, Mitte) und Fran- cisco Purroy (Schriftführer West nach dem Tod von Yeatman, rechts). Karikaturen von N. K. Boev und B. Frocot, publiziert im Tagungsband der Konferenz im Jahr 1976. VOGELWELT 137: 3–18 (2017) 7 recorded. Although Sharrock included all introduced the breach than in the observance: the British and Irish species that he considered to be well-established and certainly did not implement it. The card that was even- breeding in the wild state, the final list was not agreed tually used for gathering data from national organisers until the data were being collated at the European level, instead asked them whether more or less than 75 % of when the criterion was laid down that to be included the expected breeding species had been recorded in the an introduced species had to have at least one popula- square. Such failure to stick by decisions was probably tion assessed as self-sustaining over five years. Similarly, not because individual countries deliberately ignored discussions as to what subspecies should be separately them but because the decisions were forgotten, another recorded were still going on in 1989 (when the decision example of the inefficiencies resulting from meetings was that data should be gathered only for subspecies being infrequent and communication poor. that had EURING numbers). That matters such as these were not resolved much 4.5 Publicity earlier is no doubt because they were only addressed The need to publicise the project in every country was during committee meetings. Had individuals been frequently stressed but it is not clear how much pub- tasked with reviewing such topics between the meet- licity was actually generated. Some pilot distribution ings and presenting reports and recommendations to maps were produced in the 1970s for people to publish the next meeting, firmer and quicker progress might in their national ornithological journals as a means of have been made. generating interest. However, I have been unable to find that they were used beyond four articles in Brit- 4.2 Fieldwork planning ish Birds and one in Ardeola; all bar one of these were The 1972 committee meeting also addressed the urgent authored by Sharrock. matter of the fieldwork that was needed for the Euro- pean Atlas. National atlases were to be encouraged, 4.6 National atlases progress well; European plans not only so that practical experience would be built remain hazy up in the European ornithological community but also At the conference held in 1979, Sharrock reported that so that data from national atlases could be fed into progress at national level was satisfactory: five atlases the EOA. How the EOA could include countries that had been published; five atlases were finished though did not have the capacity to run a national Atlas was not yet published; fieldwork was in progress in 13 more discussed. It was thought that it would be possible for countries; and fieldwork was about to start in another the EOAC to encourage visitors from other countries country and was being considered in two more. to contribute but in the event, although the collection At the committee of that year there was again consid- of data in some individual countries was greatly aided erable discussion over the details of the project. Some by foreigners, the EOAC was not able to organise this was the confirming or filling out of previous decisions. from the centre. Some covered new ground, but not in an entirely useful manner: thus, despite the planned end of the fieldwork 4.3 Squares in more than one country for the EOA being still nine years away, the delegates Accumulating practical experience resulted in some eagerly considered the eventual publication of the previous decisions being changed. It had earlier been results (but the crucial step of exactly how to collate the thought that any grid square that overlapped a national data gathered by individual countries and use them to boundary should be covered fully by each of the coun- produce an integrated European atlas seems not to have tries involved. By 1976 this was seen to be impractical been considered). Leaping quite beyond the bounds and it was decided that each country should survey that of the current project, there was even talk of winter part of the square that fell within its own boundaries. atlases, though it was agreed that, while EOAC should take an active role in devising and proposing standard 4.4 Decisions made but apparently forgotten methods, this should await the field experience from Some decisions in these early years appear not to have the projects that had already started. been implemented. For example, at the 1972 meeting and using a form issued shortly afterwards, delegates 5. Entering the fieldwork period were asked to advise what grid sizes were being used in national atlases, so that a central register could be 5.1 A new chairman drawn up; there is no further mention of this in the The 1980s did not start well for the EOAC. There was archives. In 1976, presumably as a result of experience no meeting during the 1981 conference and, because with national atlases, it was recommended that record- of his increasing workload as editor of British Birds, ing cards should ask observers to state whether they Sharrock had had to step down as chairman. However, had made nocturnal visits and whether coverage of the he was able to recruit as his successor Mike Taylor, then square was casual, incomplete or complete; but this BTO President and with almost 20 years’ experience on recommendation may have been honoured more in various BTO committees. (Significantly, he had played 8 J. J. D. GREENWOOD : The History of the EBCC Atlas of European Breeding Birds an important part in the development of the Common to ensure that all countries were aware of the methods Bird Census in Britain, particularly contributing his already agreed for the atlas fieldwork, he circulated a expertise as a professional statistician, and with Sören newsletter in June 1984. It confirmed that fieldwork Svensson had drafted the international standard for the would take place during 1985-88 using the agreed mapping method in bird census work at the conference criteria for proof of breeding and a 50 x 50 km grid in 1968). Though not a delegate, he had enthusiastically (the UTM grid if possible). The number of breeding attended the 1979 EOAC meeting. He was shortly to pairs of each species in each square should be esti- retire from his professional work, so would have time mated on a scale of powers of 10. Data on habitats in to devote to the EOAC. each square, using a standard list that he had drawn Taylor took over the chairmanship in May 1983, only up, were required. (The idea then was to use the habitat four months before that year’s meeting. It must have data to help estimate population sizes but in the event come as a shock for him to find that there were only the population estimates used in the atlas were those six delegates at the committee meeting, especially as provided by the countries themselves and processing there were less than two years to go before the start of the habitat data was never completed). of the Atlas fieldwork period. This was not a sign of In another 1984 letter, Taylor announced that, follow- strong commitment to the project among the bulk of ing the realisation by Sharrock in 1981 that financial the delegates. Furthermore, as the months progressed, support was required to address some problems relat- he will have discovered that there was still much to do ing to the atlas, an application had been made to the in terms of setting up practical arrangements. European Commission, resulting in an award being Despite the poor turnout, there was much discussion made at the end of 1983 to the Royal Institute of Natural at the 1983 meeting, particularly about using ancillary Sciences in Belgium (at which the EOAC Treasurer sources of information (such as records from ringers of worked). In the time available, he and the Treasurer had birds in breeding condition and the data from the1984 been able to consult only a few colleagues in drawing International Census of White Storks). Further discus- up the work programme, which consisted of: sion of publication, though still largely premature and • assisting with arrangements for atlas work in Greece distracting attention from more urgent tasks, did raise (where there were few ornithologists resident); some issues of what information needed to be recorded. • studying ways of making quantitative estimates of For example, the need to distinguish on the published population size; maps, and therefore during the data collection, between • studying ways of recording habitat; squares that had been visited without the species being • examining problems of handling the final data. found and squares that had never been visited. (That this had not been addressed before may seem surpris- Nigel Clark was employed to undertake this pro- ing until one remembers that the leading people in the gramme, especially to come up with a method of get- EOAC came from countries where this was not an issue ting an abundance estimate that would be usable by because all their squares were covered). birdwatchers with a range of skills and across coun- Despite the amount of discussion, the minutes record tries differing greatly in numbers of birdwatchers. nothing about the essentials that were needed by 1985: Having consulted widely, Clark and his wife (Jacquie) assurances that every country would participate; an went to Greece to test out methods of recording habi- agreed form for the submission of data; a method of tat and making population estimates. On the basis of handling the incoming data; and how to convert the this experience, he suggested a method involving the information into maps). Perhaps these issues would fieldworkers assessing the extent of each habitat and have been given more attention if the meeting had an order-of-magnitude estimate of the density of each taken place at the end of the conference rather than at species in each habitat. Taylor thought that the neces- the beginning, after delegates had heard the talk from sary calculations would require too much computing the statistician S. T. Buckland “Atlas data: processing power and devised a simpler plan. and analysis”, based on his work with a local atlas in Also in 1984, Taylor circulated to the EOA delegates Britain. Given the importance of these issues, it is dif- a set of guidelines for trials of fieldwork methods. These ficult to understand why the EOAC neither asked Buck- trials, in addition to testing the methods of population land for his advice subsequently (Buckland in litt., 13th estimation and habitat recording, also involved trying August 2013) nor, apparently, paid any attention to the to get “some idea of the rate of build-up of evidence content of his paper. in terms of hours in the field” and making a series of point counts in different habitats within each square, 5.2 1984: the new Chairman gets busy the latter being an experiment for a future possible long Plunging into his new role with enthusiasm, Taylor term EEC project in which counts would be repeated attended various meetings in order to stimulate interest annually. Particularly given that there was only a year to in the atlas, particularly in countries with few resident go before the start of fieldwork for the atlas, these addi- ornithologists. No doubt recognising that it was urgent tions were bizarre. It would surely have been impossible