The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Since Anne Goodall is retiring from her role with the Lincolnshire Bird Club,I'm afraid that means the long running Garden Bird Scheme to which many of you may have contributed over the years will also come to an end in its current format. I'm sure you will join with me and LBC in thanking Anne for all the hard work Anne has put in for LBC and especially running our GBS for much of its thirty years. Everyone contributing in the last few years will receive an email or letter about this.

There are two pieces of good news though. First of all Anne is hoping to write up a report of the findings of thirty years monitoring garden birds in Lincolnshire which I'm sure will make very interesting reading for anyone with an interest in garden bird population changes. LBC will publish the report and it will be free for LBC members and there will be a reduced price offer for other contributors.

Second we have been in touch with BTO who conduct "Garden Bird Watch" and they would be happy to enroll anyone who would like to continue to monitor garden birds, into their own survey. BTO have also agreed to share all their Lincolnshire data with LBC so we will continue to have a local perspective on this issue. This link explains their scheme http://www.bto.org/volunteer-surveys/gbw .

You will note BTO charges an annual fee of £17 for membership of their survey which pays for a full time national organiser. They have agreed however to waive the first years fee for new joiners from Lincolnshire. If you choose to take up this offer you will have to sign up for direct debit and you will not be entitled to the free book they send to new joiners. Download the pdf joining form here

http://www.bto.org/sites/default/files/ ... inform.pdf and write "Ex LBC" in the top right hand box and send them the form to get this offer

The LBC scheme will officially finish for recording on 5th April 2015. Please submit your records as usual and thereafter, if you wish, join the BTO Garden Bird Watch and submit your records through them. If you are already a member of BTO Garden Birdwatch please continue as normal.

If you submit data on the GLNP electronic form you should be aware there will no longer be any Lincolnshire specific support for using the data you submit in a garden birds context.

Lastly I'd like to thank everyone who has made a contribution to monitoring garden birds in Lincolnshire and I sincerely hope that you take up the BTO's offer to continue to enjoy the benefits of taking part in this long running and successful project.