How to report birds
Recording birds is the “bread and butter” of any bird club. There are a few ways in which you can help us build-up our database of bird sightings in Borders:
If you are in any doubt about the use of BirdTrack then ask on Borders Birds (the branch’s main means of communication for local birdwatchers – folk will be glad to give you guidance). Alternatively get in touch with our local recorder.
- BirdTrack is the means by which the majority of records are submitted to not only the Borders Branch but to the majority of clubs throughout Britain. BirdTrack is a simple online means to submit your records to the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), which then automatically makes the records available to local recorders and other BirdTrack users.
- Ensure that you accurately define the location of the site by using the polygon tool that is available on the app or define it using a one km grid reference eg NT4235 or a tetrad NT43H both of which can be entered to define a new site using the ‘Location search’ option.
- Try to keep the site to within an area of four square kilometres and avoid defining sites as anything larger – the bigger the site then the less useful your records will be. A site that covers tens of square kilometres is so large that it might not be of much use.
- Give your site a name which is meaningful, eg Teviot Bridge (Kelso) is better than Kelso. Avoid names such as “front garden” or “home”.
- Give the numbers of a given species present; even a rough approximation is better than leaving this bit of information blank - you can give an idea of limits in the comments section, eg 10+, +/-20, etc.
- Where possible give a complete bird list, ie all birds seen or heard rather than just the less common species and, when appropriate, give the highest level of evidence of any breeding.
If you are in any doubt about the use of BirdTrack then ask on Borders Birds (the branch’s main means of communication for local birdwatchers – folk will be glad to give you guidance). Alternatively get in touch with our local recorder.
- An Excel spreadsheet can be used to keep a running record of your sightings. Click here to download a copy. This should be sent in to the local recorder as an attachment to an email every few months to enable the recorder to transfer the records on to BirdTrack. Since, however, such records are eventually destined to be put into BirdTrack it is a better idea to do the job directly yourself and to simply get into the habit of using BirdTrack regularly.
- Records are accepted which are handwritten and sent to the local recorder by conventional post. Such records must include the following information: sighting date; grid reference; site name; species; count. Where relevant you should also include additional comments relating to possible breeding evidence, whether the birds were fly-overs; if the birds were adults, juveniles or fledglings, etc.
- WhatsApp SOC Borders Bird Sightings is a quick and convenient way to let others know what’s about. However note that records placed on the WhatsApp group are not placed into BirdTrack automatically. Observers need to place any records that they submit to the WhatsApp group on BirdTrack themselves.
- Breeding Bird Surveys (BBS) and Wetland Bird Surveys (WeBS) are also important ways in which you can contribute to the Borders database of records. Click on the appropriate survey for further information.