The British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has launched the biggest bird survey that the UK has ever seen.

Over the next four years, an army of 50,000 birdwatchers is to help the BTO conduct a national stock-take of more than 250 species of British birds.

The results will be compiled in a winter atlas and it is hoped that the research will help nature experts understand how recent climate changes and habitat alterations have affected Britain's bird population.

The atlas will inform conservation work for the next 20 years.

Dawn Balmer, the atlas co-ordinator said: "The aim is to cover every ten-kilometre square in the UK, and BirdWatch Ireland will be organising the same sort of survey in Ireland," the Watton and Swaffham Times reports.

"We are delighted with the enthusiasm birdwatchers have shown for the atlas. There is a real sense of concern about how birds are coping with changes to our climate and their habitats."

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