Access Science: BirdWatch Ireland calling all amateur spotters

The BirdWatch Ireland Garden Bird Survey 2014-2015 has just got under way. It gives people a chance to take part in real research that advances our understanding of Irish bird biodiversity.

Citizen scientists are central to the survey programme, says Niall Hatch, development officer at BirdWatch Ireland.

People are being asked to take note of the birds that visit their gardens or nearby parks over the next three months, and the data will be added to records from participants across the country.

“We look for changes in bird populations,” says Hatch. “This is not a census, it is a way to work out the relative abundance of a species. The data we get from this survey really tells us a lot about the health of our environment.”

You don’t have to have a bird table to take part, and data can be recorded on paper or on a computer; you are asked to keep a record of what birds appear and how many during the period of observation. You will also be asked where you are and whether it is urban, suburban or rural.

BirdWatch will help you learn how to identify your feathered visitors and how to keep track of them. “If you don’t know all of the birds, it doesn’t matter. Just put down the ones you recognise. It is about learning more about garden birds,” he says.

The survey has shown the robin to be the most commonly seen bird, with other common birds including the wren, chaffinch and dunnock. You can see what they look like on birdwatchireland.ie.

Back in the garden: the goldfinch rush

BirdWatch Ireland conducted its first garden bird survey about 20 years ago. There has been a big increase in goldfinch numbers over the years, says Niall Hatch of BirdWatch Ireland.

“When we did the first survey, they were seen in 20.4 per cent of gardens, but last winter they were recorded in 86 per cent of gardens,” he says.

Part of the growth came because the birds began visiting bird tables.

“The population increased due to the ready availability of thistle and weed seeds on Celtic Tiger building sites , but over the past 15 years they learned that bird tables mean food,” he says.

Wrens, on the other hand, won’t use the tables and would rather root for insects hidden in the seeds.

READER QUESTION: WHAT’S BEYOND OUR UNIVERSE?

• Question: Everything we know has dimension and therefore a limit. But what does our universe exist in? Assuming that you came to the outer edge of the universe, what would be beyond it? John Young
• Answer: There was, in some sense, an edge to the universe in the past because everything (including space and time) appears to have been created in the "big bang" about 13 billion years ago. A consequence of this – and the fact that no information can travel faster than the speed of light – is that there is an observation horizon preventing us from seeing farther than about 13 billion light years. But this is not a real physical edge any more than the horizon we observe when we look at the surface of the Earth. As far as we know, the universe looks pretty much the same everywhere, and, no matter where you are, it stretches out in all directions with no detectable edge. It could in theory be of finite volume like the spherical surface of the Earth (which has finite total area, but no edge), but the evidence of modern cosmology points to an infinite and open universe. As to what the universe exists "in", there are speculative multiverse theories that give some answer to this question, but in terms of what can be observed, it is better to just say that the universe exists in and of itself, without reference to anything else. Luke Drury, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies

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