When registering please ensure to use your full real name rather than a psuedonym (which will not be accepted) as this enables me to credit observers will their sightings and to contact them for clarification if necessary. Your user name should appear as your first and last name i.e. ian mckerchar.
I welcome all bird sightings recorded in Greater Manchester to be posted on this forum but users should understand that I reserve the right to withold or remove locations of species in which specific site disclosure could be used by unscrupulous individuals who may visit websites such as this. The welfare and protection of species under threat in our county is absolutely paramount to me.
SIGHTINGS ON THIS FORUM ARE NOT UTILISED IN ANY OFFICAL BIRD RECORDING CAPACITY, SO PLEASE ENSURE YOU SUBMIT YOUR RECORDS PERSONALLY TO THE COUNTY BIRD RECORDER OTHERWISE THEY CANNOT BE USED FOR IMPORTANT CONSERVATION ISSUES OR IN THE ANNUAL COUNTY BIRD REPORT. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT THE COUNTY BIRD RECORDER TO DISCUSS YOUR SUBMISSION METHOD OPTIONS.
Users submitting sightings of county rarities or other species deemed appropriate should be prepared to submit a description to the County Rarities Committee, failure to do so prevents the sighting being entered into the definative county records and used for conservation and protection issues. Persistent failure to submit descriptions of such species may well force me to prevent the user from posting sightings to the forum.
the use of abbreviated bird names and the incorrect spelling of birds names is a contentious one, not least as many would ask if it matters much but many users of this forum have answered that it does and I have to agree.
Abbreviated bird names are on the increase within posts and personally I don't think they're always a good thing. We need to appreciate the huge cross section of users within the forum and that many simply don't know what a LW is, or GCG etc etc. I don't think it's much to ask for a Grebe at the end or the extra few seconds to type a full name is it? God forbid the reincarnation of the dreaded elitist BTO species codes, BX indeed! This forum is used by all ages and experiences and it is important to me that it remains accessible to everyone. If we could just give some extra thought to the use of abbreviated names that would be appreciated, ask yourself if a 13 year old birder just starting out would have any clue what you're on about without having to wrack their brain for 20 minutes, or search back through a thread to find out what is meant by it.
And onto spelling. My spelling is admittedly terrible, praise be to the spellchecker I say but it seems that bird names are increasingly being spelt wrong on this forum. Whilst we may very well understand what is meant by an incorrect spelling or not, this forum is intended to improve our birding knowledge where possible and the perpetuation of commonly misspelled names is surely working against that. I'm sure we all have a bird book and it might just be worth checking that we're spelling some of these names correctly or as is mostly commonly the case, not unecessarily splitting bird names into two. Chiffchaff for instance, has never been spelt Chiff Chaff! Small beer perhaps but in the scheme of things getting them wrong on a public forum such as this is simply encouraging others to spell them the same way.
p.s. any spelling mistakes within this post are purely intentional.
The Manchester Birding forum is a very busy one and so threads quickly get pushed off the first page by newer posts to other threads. As such, if a thread you wish to post to is not obvious on the first page please do not just start a new one. Instead, use the search function on the toolbar at the top of the forum, type in your site and post to the relevant thread.
If there are multiple threads for the same site please post to the thread with the most replies and if possible let me know about the duplicates so I can close them down.
Please note that I reserve the right to delete duplicate threads as and when they appear.
Cheers,
Ian
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Friday 18th of November 2011 03:25:44 PM
The stance of this Manchester Birding Forum is that THE PRECISE LOCATION OF NO BREEDING SPECIES SHOULD BE POSTED. Breeding birds may, where permissable (such as particularly common birds at a very large site or private garden) be posted but only ever down to a particular site at the most, an area large enough that it would be too unspecific and inconceivable to cause the birds any unwanted attention. Observers should be wary of posting any species they feel may be vunerable and should contact me immediately prior to posting if in doubt.
In any case, no schedule 1 species should ever be posted without contacting me for advise first. Schedule 1 species include:
Bittern, Fieldfare, Barn Owl, Firecrest, Garganey, Peregrine, Goldeneye, Goshawk, Black-necked Grebe, Little Ringed Plover, Redstart, Redwing, Crossbill, Mediterranean Gull, Harrier (all species), Cetti's Warbler, Hobby, Kingfisher and Merlin. In addition, care should be given to all raptors, waders and owl species and Short/Long-eared Owls in breeding areas/periods should not be posted regardless.
Note that I will delete entirely any posts which include information I perceive as breaching this without any notification but it really is all our responsibility to carefully consider our posts before we press submit.
If anyone sees such information in a post that I may have missed or information from a site they know not suitable for publication then please contact me asap.
FROM THE 1ST OF MAY EVERY YEAR UNTIL THE BEGINNING OF JULY, THE LOCATION OF NO LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS WILL BE POSTED ON THIS FORUM. THIS MEANS THAT LITTLE RINGED PLOVERS WILL DISAPPEAR FROM THE COUNTY'S AVIFAUNA UNTIL THAT TIME AS FAR AS THIS FORUM IS CONCERNED. PLEASE NOTE I WILL DELETE IN ITS ENTIRETY, ANY POST WHICH BREACHES THIS WITHOUT NOTIFICATION.
SHOULD YOU HAVE SIGHTNGS, ESPECIALLY OF BREEDING BIRDS, THEN ONLY CONTACT MYSELF OR ASSISTANT COUNTY BIRD RECORDER STEVE ATKINS (CONTACT DETAILS ON THE MANCHESTER BIRDING WEBSITE).
-- Edited by Ian McKerchar on Saturday 19th of November 2011 01:33:27 PM
In order to make this forum as efficient and rapid in the dispersal of it's bird news it would greatly appreciated that birders when and where possible ring or text me with their rare/scarce county or indeed out-of-county bird news on 07958 687481, anytime day or night To those who already do so, and that is most of you to be fair , I sincerely thank you, this forum is only a success down to you all.
* Please note that this should not detract from the continued posting of news onto this forum and that bird news received be automatically be posted on the forum by me (credited to the relevant observer), unless asked not to do so or in receipt of sensitive news. Publishable news received will also be forwarded onto Birdnet Information services for national dispersal via their pagers/Twitter services.
