The Society was formed in 1983 by Martin Wright and five other like-minded birders. The aim was to engage in fieldwork as a means to increase our understanding of the birds of the Cotswolds.

Our first activity was to organise a survey of the birds of the region.  This took us five years between 1983 to 1987 and culminated in the publication of An Atlas of Cotswold Breeding Birds in 1990.  Following completion of the Atlas work continued to monitor the birds of the Cotswolds through a series of random square surveys of wintering and breeding birds.

In 2003, the twentieth anniversary of the Society, as we knew that there had been changes to the bird populations in the area, we thought it would be a good idea to repeat the Atlas.  Over the next five years we carried out a second survey of the breeding birds, publishing the results in 2009 in Birds of the Cotswolds.

We continue to carry out surveys – it is after all what drives us.  In addition to looking at the random square surveys we are also monitoring the scarcer breeding birds of the region and also keeping an eye on the broader trends in species’ abundance.

The Society is a Registered Charity number 1127045