The Lincolnshire Bird Club

POSTING SIGHTINGS ON THE LBC FORUM

We are always grateful to those who take the time to post their sightings onto the Forum.

As some of you may know the data collected is used not only to publish an annual Bird Report, but also to provide searches to various organisations. It would be of great help if a total could be included for all species reported so that we can improve on the accuracy of the records.

It would also be helpful if you could make it clear whether you have seen a bird or, if not, the name of the observer.

When an observer has visited several locations it is not always easy to know which location to allocate to the sightings.

Sometimes we have to take a guess at what observers have seen:

As an example:

1st post:
Cogglesford Mill and Cranwell 1/6/2011 Posted 1/6/2011 7.30 pm

(Were the birds seen at Cogglesford Mill or Cranwell?)

Tree Sparrow 2
Reed Bunting (we would have to assume 1)
Kingfishers (we would have to assume circa 2)
Little Grebe 1
Lots of Swifts, yellow wagtails, siskin, sparrows (cannot use this information)
Plus the usual (cannot use this information)
Tufted Duck – not seen by me (who was the observer)
Marsh Harrier – en route (cannot use this information)

2nd post:

Cogglesford Mill and Cranwell 1/6/2011 Posted 2/6/2011 8.30 a.m.

We also saw the kingfishers (how many and was the sighting on 1st or 2nd - posted early in the day)

We would be very grateful if you could take a little extra time to include this additional information.

THANK YOU AND PLEASE CONTINUE REPORTING YOUR SIGHTINGS, THEY ARE IMPORTANT TO US.

for and on behalf of the LBC committee

February 2012

Gathering records for the LBC database

Most of you will know that we collect your sightings of birds from the Forum for entry onto the LBC Database, which is then used to compile Annual Reports.

The LBC has a main database, which is maintained by Jan Eastmead and one other database which we use.

If you would like any of your personal records, which are not posted on the Forum, included in the database there are many ways you can send these to either the County Recorder - North or County Recorder - South, preferably on a monthly basis.

If you are running Wildlife Recorder, which is the system used by LBC, or Bird Recorder, your records can be sent by email as an exported file. This information is then imported directly into Wildlife Recorder. From our point of view this is obviously the best option, as it involves less work and gives us more time for bird watching!

Another option is the use of spreadsheets. The best format is known as a trip, which gives the date and location, together with a list of birds seen (not necessarily in systematic order) and the number of each species seen. The information can be copied onto a special template, which has been designed by Andrew Chick, and again can be imported into the database. If anyone is interested in submitting records in this way, a copy of this template, shown below, is available on request.




This excel spreadsheet can be downloaded at http://www.lincsbirdclub.co.uk/Articles ... ate_WR.xls

H = heard only, several other codes are also used, ie E = escape etc, we will add these codes as appropriate.


If you have no method of recording your sightings, an email to either County Recorder would be most acceptable, using the same format as for spreadsheets, ie in trip format.

We wouldn't object if the same information is hand written and sent to either County Recorder by snail-mail, preferably with the information in the same order as for spreadsheets/emails.

For those who are not members of the LBC there is the Casual/Confidential facility available on the Forum. Why not join LBC, for £12 a year we think it is good value!!

At the end of each month information is sent to the County Recorders, and is used to compile the LBC Newsletter and a monthly report for the Birding press, so it is important that we get all the records to them by the 4th of the following month.

Sheila and Colin Jennings
February 2012

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

YOUR BIRD RECORDS ARE IMPORTANT TO US.

We will soon be making a start on the 2011 LBC Bird Report. To enable us to do this there is a very important first link in the chain and that is you, the members of the Lincolnshire Bird Club and those who submit confidential and casual records. Without your records there is no Bird Report, so to those who regularly contribute many thanks. If you do not currently send us your records, perhaps you would like to consider sending them to LBC in the future.

There are many ways to submit records:

• Posting sightings on the Forum – you have to be a member of the Lincolnshire Bird club to make a posting on the Forum.
• For those who are not members of the LBC there is the Casual/Confidential facility available on the Forum.
If you would like any of your personal records which are not posted on the Forum, included in the database, you can send these to the appropriate County Recorder, preferably on a monthly basis.
• Another option is the use of an Excel spreadsheet, or the Template which is shown on the Forum website.
• If you have no method for recording your sightings, a note to the appropriate County Recorder would be acceptable.
• Confidential sightings and breeding records should be submitted to the appropriate County Recorder.
• If you are running Wildlife Recorder or Bird Recorder, your records can be sent by email as an exported file. These can be sent direct to Colin Jennings thejennings@colin97.freeserve.co.uk for entry onto the LBC database.

The County Recorders are: John Clarkson (North) - recorder_north@lincsbirdclub.co.uk and John Badley (South) – recorder_south@lincsbirdclub.co.uk

If you do send us your records, in whichever form, you do not need to submit them in systematic order. You can list them as a Trip, giving the location, date, species and total number seen, in any species order you like. You can send them by email, spreadsheet or a hand written note will do. It would be very helpful if any records you do submit are sent on a monthly basis so that there is not a huge amount of data entry to do at the end of the year.

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

Access to the Lincolnshire Bird Club Database

This note is provided for the benefit of non-members, who may not be aware that, thanks to the outstanding efforts of a small number of volunteers still ongoing all records submitted to the Club since 1998 are now held on a fully searchable database. Because of its very great commercial value, access to this database is controlled and a charge is made for any commercial use. However, records are provided free of charge to conservation bodies for conservation purposes and for private research or study by members. (LBC reserve the right to make a small administrative charge for supply of requests to non-members for research or study if very large volumes of data are requested, but in practice to date, these requests have also been met free of charge.

The existence of this service is regularly advertised to LBC members in LBN, and uses of the data are always reported at the AGM. The following invitation appeared in LBN Vol 28 No1 January 2006

Members Own Research

At long last the Club's bird records from 1998 to 2011 are on one computer and therefore readily available for any member who wishes to use them for their own project. The records for 2012 will be added in April next year, so if you have outstanding records for that year please submit them now.
Records for single or multiple species, for specific areas or between specific dates can all be easily extracted from the database and provided to the user as Excel or csv files or as hard copy.

If you have a project in mind and would like to make use of this valuable asset to which many of you are contributing please contact Janet Eastmead by email (janet.eastmead02@btinternet.com) or telephone (01790 753834). You will need to complete a brief application form explaining how the data are to be used and agreeing to abide by the Club's terms and conditions.

The following note appeared in LBN Vol 29 No 3 June 2007, in the account of the AGM under Hon Secretary's Report :-

LBC Database

The Club computer database now holds 13 years records (i.e. from 1998 to the present) and, as well as being available to conservation bodies and developers, these data are equally available to members for their own research.

Categories of Use to Date

In total, 11 formal requests for data were received in 2009, and 19 in 2010. These 30 requests break down as follows:

1. 20 came from ecological consultancies representing developers working in Lincolnshire;
2. 4 came from LBC members for private research projects;
3. 3 came from students; and
4. 3 came from conservation organisations: one in each year from RSPB for farmland bird data for their national project and one from the
Biodiversity Partnership to assist with BAP.

In addition, data are supplied by the County Recorders to BBRC, RBBP, BOURC and other national bodies for national monitoring purposes.

Production of County Bird Reports

Finally, though by NO means least important, having put all available volunteer person-time into getting the records onto the database work has now started on the 2010 Annual Report. Members may be aware that SoBiL 2 covering 1996-2000 is being written and SoBiL 3 will follow straight on. The biggest single hold-up now is the non-availability of written descriptions and/or photographs of rare species for the years 2003 to 2007. Steve Keightley, who is working on the 2003 to 2007 Rare and Scarce report, has despatched requests for such confirmation of numerous sightings, and the most important contribution members and others can make to getting this report out faster is to provide this evidence please, as soon as you get your request.

LBC Committee
June 2011 (updated Oct 2012)

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/