Trends of Wetland Birds in Ireland

Digital Nature is delighted to share that the Irish Wetland Bird Survey: I-WeBS National and Site Trends Report 1994/95 – 2019/20 has just been published by BirdWatch Ireland.

This report details how 36 species of wetland bird are faring in Ireland based on the data gathered by more than 1,100 surveyors that have contributed details of more than 81,000 site visits since the I-WeBS survey started in 1994. National Trends are provided as well as Site-Specific Trends for 97 sites.

Extract from the national trends in the I-WeBS Trends Report 1994/95 – 2019/20

Details of the analysis are described in the I-WeBS Trends Report Methodology document. The Underhill technique was used to impute missing counts where appropriate, seasonal counts were indexed to focus on relative changes in abundance, and Generalised Additive Models were employed to smooth these trends. Short, Medium and Long-Term Trends have been calculated and plotted for each species.

Extract from the Lough Swilly Site Trend Report

For more information on this report see this dedicated BirdWatch Ireland article.

Onboard the BirdWatch Ireland CBS and I-WeBS Team…

CBS Newsletter 2021

Digital Nature is delighted to share that it is now up-and-running as part of the BirdWatch Ireland CBS and I-WeBS Team, under contract to the Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service.

The Countryside Bird Survey and Irish Wetland Bird Survey are national surveys that have been gathering important scientific data on bird populations in Ireland since the 1990s. Every year hundreds of professional and citizen scientists follow carefully designed survey protocols to gather data at hundreds of selected sites around the country. This valuable data allows trends in Irish bird populations to be established, and helps inform policy at national as well as European level.

Digital Nature is focusing on the IT aspects of these surveys, supporting the National Coordinators, Ecologists and Scientific Officers on the team with data capture, validation, loading, storage and analysis solutions. Some of these elements are introduced in the latest CBS newsletter published by BirdWatch Ireland.

Digital Nature is delighted to be playing a role in this important work.