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Garden BirdWatch Instructions What and how to record The Garden BirdWatch project is designed to help us promote effective conservation action by increasing our understanding of how wild birds use different resources at different times of year and of how their numbers are changing. Your garden has a unique GARDEN BIRDWATCH NUMBER which is given at the top of your introduction letter and is also included in all routine correspondence. It is vital that this Garden BirdWatch number is recorded on all your forms. What forms do you have to complete? Participants receive a Site Registration Form that tells us about the resources that each garden provides for birds, so we can monitor how birds use different types of gardens. If you move house, please let us know. We will need to issue you with a new Garden BirdWatch number. Each Count Form covers a 13 week period, known as a 'quarter'. The starting date of each quarter is shown on a 'Calendar of Count Weeks'. As each form is completed at the end of the quarter it should be returned to the Garden BirdWatch office so that the observations can be scanned in to a computer and added to the national dataset. Participants also receive a Scarcer Species Form on which the names and observations of any unusual birds can be recorded. The year and quarter need to be recorded and a mark made against the week in which you saw the species. This form can be enclosed with a Count Form and returned at the end of the year. What should I record? The aim of Garden BirdWatch is to gather information on the birds using your garden and the resources that it provides. This means that you should keep a record of those birds actually using the resources within your garden - these could include birds feeding on your bird table, seen sitting in your trees or nesting on your house. Do not include those birds that are simply flying over your garden and not actually using it. The Count Form allows you to record information on 41 common garden bird species. These are divided into two groups, called Table A and Table B species. The Table A species are the ten most common garden birds nationally and the form has been designed to allow you to record additional information on the numbers of these species using your garden. For these ten species, you should record the highest number of each species seen together in your garden at any one time during the week. The Table B species are less common nationally than the Table A species. For these species you simply record whether or not you saw each species during a particular count week. (For more information, please view the Completing Bird Forms page). Note: GBW Online allows you to record maximum counts for all species, including those from Table B and the Scarcer Species form. You should define your 'survey area'. In most cases this will be the whole of your garden, but if you have a particularly large garden or there are parts of the garden that you cannot see from where you do your recording, then your study area will be that part of the garden that can be seen from where you do your recording. When should I record? Daily records are not essential but please record birds from the same place and more or less the same time each week. By doing this you will be producing counts that are comparable with each other from week to week. If you are not able to spend as much time recording the birds as you feel is necessary in any particular count week, do not enter records for that week on the form. Try to put in about the same amount of effort each week. Do not be over-ambitious when planning this. Continuity is more important than quantity. One minute a week for fifty-two weeks is more useful than 52 minutes with one week, and nothing for the rest of the year! How should I record? Most Garden BirdWatch participants use a notebook to record what they see during the course of each week, only transferring this information to the count form at the end of the week. For the 'top-ten' species, the size of the largest group of each species that you see together in your garden at any one time during the week is recorded. This is done by marking one of the four 'flock size' categories for that species. If you see two Blue Tits together on a Sunday, three together on the Wednesday and five together on the Tuesday then your record for the week is 'five'. Even if you know that more than one individual of a particular species is visiting your garden but you only see one of them at any time, the number recorded should be 'one'. If any bird was not seen in your garden at all in a particular week then do not mark that week's box for the species. How do I record food? You can record information on the food you provide each week by filling in Table C. Bread and other food normally bought for human consumption should be recorded as 'scraps'. If you use a modern, high-quality bird seed mixture please record it as 'Seed Mix no Cereal', even if it contains small amounts of flaked maize, oatmill, millet, etc. 'Seed mix with cereal' means a traditional grain-based mixture containing a significant proportion of wheat grain or other coarse, dry cereal grains. Some of the older forms contain a line marked 'For Special Project Use'. This has been replaced by a line labelled 'Nyjer Seed' and both can be used to record any Nyjer Seed you put out. If you have a pond, please mark 'water' every week. If you wish, you can download the Garden BirdWatch instructions as a PDF for easy storage and printing.
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