Map explanation

This map shows where changes occurred in the breeding season distribution of the species in Wiltshire between 1995-2000 and 2007-2012, as revealed by the fieldwork for Birds of Wiltshire (Wiltshire Ornithological Society 2007) and the shared fieldwork for Bird Atlas 2007-2011 (BTO 2013) and for Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2007-2012.

Gains and improvements

Status

Nos tetrads


Absent to present

72

8%


Present to breeding

30

3%


Absent to breeding

70

8%


No change

Status

Nos tetrads


Present in both

31

3%


Breeding in both

62

7%


Losses and declines

Status

Nos tetrads


Present to absent

110

12%


Breeding to present

28

3%


Breeding to absent

77

8%


Tawny Owls are resident in north-west Africa, all of Europe - except Iceland, Ireland, northern and central Fenno-Scandia and northern Russia – western Siberia, parts of the Middle East and along the Himalayas east to China, Korea and Taiwan. They occur widely throughout Great Britain except in the northern and some of the western islands of Scotland.
    Being nocturnal they are poorly covered by most surveys but such evidence as is available suggests a generally stable British population with some moderate decline in Scotland and south-west England since 1970. In Wiltshire they remain widespread with only a slight decrease between Birds of Wiltshire (where they were recorded in 338 tetrads, with breeding in 167) and WTA2 (298 tetrads, breeding in 162).

References
The following references are used throughout these species accounts, in the abbreviated form given in quotation marks:
1968-72 Breeding Atlas” – Sharrack, J.T.R. 1976:  The Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
1981-84 Winter Atlas” – Lack, P.C. 1986:  The Atlas of Wintering Birds in Britain and Ireland. T. & A. Poyser
1988-91 Breeding Atlas” – Gibbons, D.W., Reid, J.B. & Chapman, R.A. 1993: The New Atlas of Breeding Birds in Britain and Ireland 1988-91. T. & A. Poyser
Birds of Wiltshire” – Ferguson-Lees, I.J. et al. 2007 : Birds of Wiltshire, published by the tetrad atlas group of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society after mapping fieldwork 1995-2000. Wiltshire Ornithological Society.
Bird Atlas 2007-2011” – Balmer, D.E., Gillings, S., Caffrey, B.J., Swann, R.L., Downie, I.S. and Fuller, R.J. 2013: Bird Atlas 2007-2011: the Breeding and Wintering Birds of Britain and Ireland
WTA2” – ("Wiltshire Tetrad Atlas 2 ") the present electronic publication, bringing together the Wiltshire data from “Birds of Wiltshire” and “Bird Atlas 2007-11”, together with data from further fieldwork carried out in 2011 and 2012.
"Hobby" - the annual bird report of the Wiltshire Ornithological Society.