Not at all! In addition to individuals, we’re eager for groups to take part in the survey and hope for it to be an enjoyable social activity as well as an opportunity to share knowledge and learn together. We also understand that not everyone feels comfortable visiting greenspaces alone, so hope this offers another opportunity to visit these spaces.

Simply knowing which birds and how many of them are using a space tells us a lot about the suitability of a greenspace. While this is a breeding season survey, we want to know how these spaces support all birds, not just those that breed there.

We definitely want your data!

If you only want to record a couple of species, our quick record option could be the option for you. 

Likewise, if you want to record everything you observe (even those species you’re less confident about) you can add ‘possible’ counts for these species to let us know when you can't be 100% of the bird you have seen.
 

Birds in Greenspaces does not assign sites, and all greenspaces are available for anyone and everyone. Simply let us know which site you visited when collecting/entering your data.

We are focusing on public-access greenspaces as these are places that everyone can visit and use. As these spaces are publicly owned, there is a greater opportunity to inform management choices within them.

Anyone can survey any greenspace, they are not allocated to users and so can be covered multiple times - simply choose the greenspace when adding data on the app, or make a not of it with any paper data.

In order to ensure greenspaces are manageable (and don’t take hours on end to survey!), we have divided up larger sites into multiple smaller greenspaces. This ensures a more thorough survey can be carried out.

If you wish to survey more than one of these ‘parts’ a new survey should be started for each, to ensure we can link the bird observations with the area in which they were observed.

How long you spend surveying your greenspace is up to you. You should try to cover the whole space, but by recording start and end time we can get an idea of the survey effort.

Whether you only pass through a greenspace on your way to work, while walking the dog, or on your morning run, we are still eager to get your records, and our quick record allows you to record an observation of interest.

Absolutely - all data is valuable! Whether you have only a few minutes to spare or want to visit your greenspace several times throughout the project, the information you provide will contribute to this research and help to build the bigger picture.
 

No binoculars are needed for Birds in Greenspaces - all you need is something to record your data, whether a smartphone or pen and paper, and your eyes and ears!

Absolutely not! As well as our phone app, you can also record your observations with a pen and paper in the field and submit via our web application. If you are unable to use our mobile-phone or web app then please get in touch with us at greenspaces@bto.org or writing to Birds in Greenspaces, British Trust for Ornithology, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU.

We will only be including data recorded using the Birds in Greenspaces app, as this ensures the data is consistent and comparable across all surveyors, visits and greenspaces.

We are currently exploring how Birds in Greenspaces data can be made available to BirdTrack users, and for the duration of the project ask that you avoid submitting the same data through the BirdTrack app, as duplicate submissions can affect the quality and reliability of our data.