Submission Guidelines

The bird news page is primarily intended to be used as a means of informing local birders about unusual birds in Berkshire. Although there are no hard and fast rules any scarce species will be worth reporting. The Berkshire List page gives and indication of status. Other species may be of interest out of context, i.e. early or late migrants or counts of commoner species such as wildfowl or waders.

What happens to the records

Unless the record relates to a rare breeding bird (see below) as soon as the submit button is clicked the record will appear on the bird news page. At the same time emails and text messages will be sent to anybody who has subscribed to the respective services. As such it is very important that you make sure the information is correct before clicking the submit button. If you are not 100% sure of your identification either enter the report as a "possible", or better still get an experienced birder to verify your sighting.

At the end of each month records are forwarded to the Berkshire Bird Bulletin team and to the County Recorder. As the records may be used in the Berkshire Bird Report it is important, where possible to include the number of birds, age, sex, plumage, breeding information etc. Records may also be forwarded to other interested parties such as the TVERC, RSPB and BTO. The records collected may be used in relation to planning applications by developers and councils to ensure species noted in areas by birdwatchers are taken into account before developments commence. Any funds raised from this activity will be paid exclusively to charities for purposes involving ornithology related activities in Berkshire. If you do not want your sightings to be forwarded then tick the "Do not forward sightings" checkbox on your profile page.

Rare breeding birds

The following is a list of species which regularly breed or have attempted to breed in the past and are considered particularly vulnerable in Berkshire. This might because they breed in very lower numbers or are in the early stages of colonising the county. As such, records of these species at known and potential breeding sites during the breeding season will not be made public. Some of these species are resident in the county and records of these will be withheld year round. To avoid awkward conversations please don't ask me to reveal the breeding sites of any of these species.

Subscribe and get rid of the adverts!

BECOME A SUPPORTER