Tying in with the survey work that undertaken for the national bird atlas between 1988 to 1991, the Durham Bird Club used this work as a launch pad toundertake a more detailed study of its local bird populations.
For the general reader it is hoped that this atlas provides an insight into the distribution of the County's breeding birds and how they relate to the geography and habitats of the area. For the ornithologist it is hoped that the book provides a first serious attempt, at the local level, to accurately map the distribution of the County's breeding birds and, alongside this, attempt to quantify their breeding populations using the best information to hand at the present time. For the conservationist the hope is that the book will provide a measuring stick, against which, in future, we can attempt to determine our success in protecting the breeding range of our wild birds, as well as their habitats.