Waterford Bird Atlas - request for breeding season records of Sparrowhawk and other species

The map below shows the preliminary distribution of Sparrowhawks during the breeding seasons of the the years 2006-2012, by 2-km tetrad. This is based on Waterford Bird Atlas fieldwork and other available April-July records for those years. One final season (2013) will be used to 'mop up' or fill gaps in distribution before the final maps are prepared for planned publication in 2014.

If you can add any 'new' dots this season (or for a previous season 2006 onwards), or upgrade an existing dot from possible to probable (or probable to confirmed) breeding, please email details to atlas @ waterfordbirds.com. Any records submitted (or previously submitted) to the Waterford Birds website will also be used.

Or submit details to the online BirdTrack system - via computer or the free BirdTrack app - but make sure that you've specified that your BirdTrack records are made available to county bird recorders, which will ensure they contribute to the Waterford Atlas.

The minimum details needed are tetrad & locality e.g. S50A near Dunhill Castle (or finer grid reference if you prefer e.g. S5101 or S514013), month and year (preferably full date), and level of breeding evidence. See list of breeding evidence codes. 

Maps of other species can be found here (not all updated yet), and further messages will be posted highlighting other target species for which help is particularly needed this final season.

Note on tetrads & grid references:
An explanation of tetrads is given here (on the national Atlas 2007-11 website, for which fieldwork is now completed). Tetrads or finer grid references can be obtained by clicking on the map of Ireland at http://www.gridreference.ie/, or read from Ordnance Survey Discovery maps (# 74, 75, 76, 82 & 85 cover Co Waterford). For smartphone users, grid references (up to 10-figure e.g. S5142501345) can be obtained using the (free) BirdTrack app, or using a number of inexpensive GPS apps including Irish Grid Ref Compass, Irish Grid Ref Worker and OS Grid to GPS Coordinate Converter.