Learn how to count flocks of birds and how to put your skills to use in the Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS).
Key information
Date / Time: 10:00 - 12:00 on 20 Aug 2025
Location: Online
Type: Training
Level: Improver
Led by: Jenny Donelan, Rob Jaques, Gill Birtles
Cost: Free
Places: 123
About the course
We will introduce various techniques for counting large groups of birds in a range of settings, and use interactive exercises for you to practice these skills. There will be an introduction to WeBS, with tips and hints to help you get started with this engaging survey.
- This course will not cover any aspects of identification.
This course complements two other online courses: Wader ID and Waterbird ID. If you need to brush up on your identification of waterbirds and/or waders, please consider attending one or both of these identification courses. Details of these can be found on our training courses pages.
The training will be run by BTO staff Jenny Donelan, Rob Jaques and Gill Birtles, all experienced birdwatchers, surveyors and trainers.
What to expect
This course involves one online session of about 1 hour 45 minutes, with a trainer:participant ratio of about 1:30.
Participants' microphones are muted during the presentations, but there is a large interactive component, and an opportunity to 'Ask a WeBSpert' questions about the survey.
The live session is complemented by supported self-study exercises, which participants are encouraged to complete afterwards.
In order to participate, you will need:
- broadband of sufficient speed to view live video
- a computer with sound and ideally a webcam, or a tablet/smartphone.
Course cost and booking
This one-session course is free of charge for amateur birdwatchers and bird survey volunteers who are based in the UK.
- Professionals seeking training should contact us by email at training@bto.org
After booking, you should receive an automatic confirmation email. If this doesn’t arrive, please check your spam/junk email folder and if it is not there, or you have any other questions or booking issues, email us at training@bto.org.
If you would like to book multiple places, please log out of your MyBTO account and book each additional place as a separate transaction. We aren't able to process multiple bookings through a single transaction at the moment.