Information about the skill and time requirements for WinGS volunteers, as well as data collection and survey methodology for the most recent Winter Gull Survey.
Please note: this project is now complete. Thank you to everyone who took part.
Skill requirements
WinGS is made up of two main counts: those at key gull roost sites, and those at sample sites.
Key roost site counts
Volunteers needed to feel confident that they:
- Had the skills to make an accurate count or close estimate of birds coming to roost. This was particularly important for large key sites where numbers of gulls can reach thousands.
- Could identify all gull species in flight as birds came in to roost, potentially in low light conditions.
In particular, volunteers needed to be confident in identifying the six most abundant UK gull species: Black-headed Gull, Common Gull, Mediterranean Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, Herring Gull and Great Black-backed Gull.
Some sites were covered by a team of volunteers carrying out a coordinated count on the same evening. These were the largest roost sites, where a high skill level and/or teams of volunteers were essential for collecting robust data.
Counting gulls at sample sites
Volunteers who were less confident in their ability to count large aggregations of birds or were unsure about their gull ID skills were able to take part in sample site counting. These sample sites occurred across inland and coastal locations and did not support very large gull roosts.
Advice was available from the WinGS Organiser for your area or the WinGS Survey Organiser, who gave guidance on sites that are within your comfort and skill zone.
Time requirements
The amount of time spent volunteering for WinGS depended on the count(s) that volunteers took part in:
- A single visit to a key site around dusk to count roosting gulls, in January 2024 or 2025.
- Counting a sample site on a single visit in January 2024 or 2025.
- A single visit to a key site around dusk to count roosting gulls, in autumn 2024.
Volunteers also needed to spend time submitting their data to BTO within the WinGS Webapp.
Data collection
Key roost sites
Volunteers counted gulls from a fixed point as the birds arrived to roost at dusk, alone or - on larger sites - with a team of other volunteers.
Roost counts at key sites involved recording a large number of birds, some of which continued to arrive during and after dusk. We did not expect observers to be able to identify all birds to species: volunteers could record some gulls as ‘large gull species’ or ‘small gull species’ or even just as ‘gull species’. However, it was important that as many gulls as possible were identified to the species level.
Sample sites
Volunteers at sample squares, either at the coast or inland, followed the same guidance.
Submitting data
Volunteers submitted their counts via an online data entry system in the WinGS portal. However, in the case of some ‘team sites’, counters submitted their data to the team leader for the site, who submitted a total count for the site.
Like most structured surveys, WinGS has bespoke data needs, and it was not possible for volunteers to transfer data from other surveys like BirdTrack to WinGS.
Resources
Recording forms for data collection
When collecting data, volunteers used a WinGS-specific recording form.
WinGS Organiser Handbook
Use these links to view or download the WinGS Organiser Handbook. This outlines the responsibilities of WinGS Organisers (WOs), and is a comprehensive guide to using the WinGS Organiser options within WinGS Online.
- Introduction and Overview for WOs
- Organising WinGS Counts and Counters
- Using WinGS Online for WOs
- WinGS Methodology for WOs
WinGS Counter Resources
Use these links to view or download the WinGS Counters Resources. These documents outline the aims and methods of WinGS for Counters.
- WinGS Introduction and Overview for Counters
- WinGS Methodology and Counting Techniques
- WinGS Online for Counters
WinGS Recording Forms
- Inland Key Recording Form
- Inland Sample Recording Form
- Coastal Key Recording Form
- Coastal Sample Recording Form
Health and Safety information for volunteers
WinGS involved evening-time observations of inland and coastal water bodies in mid January and in autumn.
Before taking part in this survey, volunteers were asked to assess any site-specific risks they may encounter. Risks were likely to relate to cold weather and conditions of low light. If weather conditions were adverse or access to the site became dangerous in snowy or icy conditions, volunteers postponed any survey efforts.
- We recommended that volunteers read BTO’s guidance for volunteer fieldworkers before starting their surveys.
Get in touch
Email us
Would you like to find out more about WinGS?
Drop us a line: wings@bto.org
Terms and Conditions of taking part
Standard Terms and Conditions
In participating in this British Trust for Ornithology (“BTO”, “Us”, “We”) activity, scheme or survey (“Project”) you are agreeing to the following terms and conditions:
Personal data and maintaining contact
If you are providing your name, address and other personal details, BTO will store and use your personal details in line with our published Privacy Policy (www.bto.org/about/privacy-statement or you can request a copy direct). You can specify your preferences surrounding the way we contact you at any time (email info@bto.org, or phone 01842 750050).
More specifically with regard to this project, in order to administer your participation and to verify the data you submit, we may need to be able to contact you (usually by email, overriding any other contact preference regarding receiving email). We may need to provide your name and email address to third parties, in case they need to contact you to verify the biological data you submit.
Biological data that you submit to us
A key charitable objective of BTO is to pursue scientific knowledge and conservation outcomes, in the public interest. By submitting contributions of biological and observational data to BTO you grant us perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sub-licensable permission to use, modify and redistribute the data as we see fit, to further this objective. This may include providing data you submit to third parties for the purposes of verification, processing and further analysis and use.
You give us this permission non-exclusively, meaning that you yourself still own your contribution. You may use, distribute or modify your individual contribution in any way you like. However, you do not possess ownership of any BTO dataset itself.
Some BTO projects allow participants to flag certain records as 'sensitive', enabling us to manage the way in which information may be displayed. Subject to project-specific terms and conditions, such 'sensitive' records may be made available to appropriate third parties, according to partnership agreements or at the discretion of BTO.
You may not contribute data to BTO that you neither own, nor have express permission to contribute on behalf of another individual or organisation.
Specific Terms and Conditions applying to those who register for the WinGS Online Surveys
In addition to the standard terms and conditions, you also agree to the following:
As stated in the ‘Personal data and maintaining contact’ section of the standard terms and conditions, we may need to provide your name and email address to third parties, in case they need to contact you to verify the biological data you submit.
For WinGS, we may also need to provide your name and email address to third parties so that they can contact you to co-ordinate the surveying of a site that requires a team of volunteers to cover. Such third parties for WinGS may include WinGS Local Organisers and/or WinGS Team Leaders).
You agree that any information you supply through WinGS Online (with the exception of personal data, see Privacy Policy www.bto.org/about/privacy-statement) may be disseminated at the discretion of the WinGS partners, including under the Open Government Licence (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/).
You confirm that if you are submitting information on behalf of anyone else then they have also agreed that their information may be disseminated in the same manner.
You agree that any information you obtain from within the WinGS Online application (other than counts submitted by you) will not be used in any presentation, publication, report, etc. or be passed on to a third party without prior written permission from the BTO. However, a distinction is made with the WeBS Report Online (www.bto.org/webs-reporting), to which information from WinGS may be published as supplementary data.
Information from WinGS may be used under the Open Government Licence with appropriate attribution, if published in the WeBS Report Online or any other such facility that states permission is given for data re-use under licence.
You accept that whilst every effort is made to ensure data held by the WinGS partners are correct, the WinGS partners cannot accept responsibility for any errors in data provided. You accept that the WinGS partners cannot be held responsible for any misuse or misinterpretation of WinGS data.