[midlandsbirder]

I would be interested to know how other birders keep their notes, photos, list etc. I usualy take field notes in my small pocket book, then later at home re write them into a a4 ring binder including digiscoped pictures (if I got any that daY!! When I say re write, latlely I have typed them out on the pc. (See thumbnail pic.) How do birders get those lovely hand painted pics, in their note books when most birds fly off when they know you are watching them? Is there anyone I wonder, that don't keep any record? Just memories maybee What freedom!! I suppose I Keep mine thinking one day, all the volumes can be handed over to the local club after I have gone.

[Keith Dickinson]

Cor Midlands you aren't half neat, my field note book is a disgrace compared to yours. I jot things on the lines, downwards, upwards, sketches may be whole page or part of page. I also jot down things that occur to me while out birding, maybe a cd that i want to get that sort of thing.
As my drawing skills are negligible (and that's bulling them up considerably ) I don't have a neat book that I transfer sightings into, only a database on my PC. The database will accept photos so when I get a digital camera I may start a little gallery on the database.
The beauty of the database is that I can run queries and generate lists very quickly. Say I wish to know how many species seen at a certain location, 3 or 4 keystrokes and the info is there. I don't have to plough through a load of books. It is also easier at the year end to compile records for the county recorder using the database.
I did use to keep a neat book but it was taking too much time to keep up to it, plus as there were no illustrations it was boring to look at. I envy those birders who have a natural talent for drawing/painting, if I could draw I think I may start a 'neat book'.

[midlandsbirder]

Originally Posted by Keith Dickinson

Cor Midlands you aren't half neat, my field note book is a disgrace compared to yours. I jot things on the lines, downwards, upwards, sketches may be whole page or part of page. I also jot down things that occur to me while out birding, maybe a cd that i want to get that sort of thing.
As my drawing skills are negligible (and that's bulling them up considerably ) I don't have a neat book that I transfer sightings into, only a database on my PC. The database will accept photos so when I get a digital camera I may start a little gallery on the database.
The beauty of the database is that I can run queries and generate lists very quickly. Say I wish to know how many species seen at a certain location, 3 or 4 keystrokes and the info is there. I don't have to plough through a load of books. It is also easier at the year end to compile records for the county recorder using the database.
I did use to keep a neat book but it was taking too much time to keep up to it, plus as there were no illustrations it was boring to look at. I envy those birders who have a natural talent for drawing/painting, if I could draw I think I may start a 'neat book'.

Hi Keith, I have never had a go at a database, it seems to be at the other end to the field note book? Is it a commercial version you have bought? I bet Ian Wallace would not use one! (how does he do those coloured sketches with just bins?) Sometimes I think I get too bogged down with all my gear (digiscope stuff) it is a releif sometimes when I forget to take it, I then spend more time looking at the bird, than fumbling around to get a shot
I suppose we all know what the bird looks like, but only the birder at the time can capture the moment with his/her notes ie weather, area, time date etc, one could always use a database picture to stick in the 'best notebook'
and do away with the camera gear?

[Hugh Harrop]

Originally Posted by midlandsbirder

I would be interested to know how other birders keep their notes, photos, list etc. I usualy take field notes in my small pocket book, then later at home re write them into a a4 ring binder including digiscoped pictures (if I got any that daY!! When I say re write, latlely I have typed them out on the pc. (See thumbnail pic.) How do birders get those lovely hand painted pics, in their note books when most birds fly off when they know you are watching them? Is there anyone I wonder, that don't keep any record? Just memories maybee What freedom!! I suppose I Keep mine thinking one day, all the volumes can be handed over to the local club after I have gone.

I keep a day to day diary (page a day, A4 format) for my notes and add photographs and typed descriptions of rarities that I've found. (see attached entries from this autumn as an example - one page shows how I aged and sexed a Honey Buzzard that flew over me here in Shetland and one re-lives the moment I found a Black-throated Thrush just a couple of miles from my patch here at Maywick, Shetland).

I have written notes in this style since 1977 when I started birding as an 8 year old and now at 36 I have a whole shelf of my diaries! And its funny to see how my handwriting has got WORSE!!! Its great to look back and remember what I was doing this day xyz years ago. I'm so glad I have kept up doing this and always make the time to get my notes up to date. My only computerised records are checklists from foreign trips (which accompany my notes in the diary) and my main lists - World, UK, Scotland, Shetland, Maywick Valley and UK find list. All in one big bumper Excel spreadsheet.

Cheers

Hugh

[cuddy]

Hi MB very smart notes , i copy my stuff from a small notebook into a day log which usually has other info added, world stuff, football results, to help fix it in time for me.

Definitely not as well kept as yours.

Regards brian r.

[Keith Dickinson]

It's just a cheap database programme produced by a company in Norfolk. It's called Birding Database, it does the job of keeping all my records easily available. Before using the database, I would have to search through several notebooks compiling lists which could take quite a long time. Using the database this is literally a few keystrokes away. The database is souless though, so I still enjoy going back to my notebooks and trying to decipher them, as even the crude notes I take can jog my memory and enable me to relive the day. I think it is my complete inadequacy at art that stops me having a 'neat book'.

Originally Posted by midlandsbirder

Hi Keith, I have never had a go at a database, it seems to be at the other end to the field note book? Is it a commercial version you have bought? I bet Ian Wallace would not use one! (how does he do those coloured sketches with just bins?) Sometimes I think I get too bogged down with all my gear (digiscope stuff) it is a releif sometimes when I forget to take it, I then spend more time looking at the bird, than fumbling around to get a shot
I suppose we all know what the bird looks like, but only the birder at the time can capture the moment with his/her notes ie weather, area, time date etc, one could always use a database picture to stick in the 'best notebook'
and do away with the camera gear?

[Sedgley]

I take notes on an A4 lined sheet of paper which is folded and clipped to a board that fits neatly into my waistcoat pocket.

The line always starts with the name of the bird in CAPITALS, followed by other notes such as m or f, where it was observed, in tree, in flight etc. In the margins I have a small number in a circle so that I can see how many I have seen as I progress through the session

When I get home I highlight (with marker pen) the date and venue at the top of the page, the hours - number of species ratio and each species logged.

I can then look back and easily reference the key points of any day's session. It works for me and that ultimately is what it's all about.

[Quacker]

Originally Posted by cuddy

Hi MB very smart notes , i copy my stuff from a small notebook into a day log which usually has other info added, world stuff, football results, to help fix it in time for me.

Definitely not as well kept as yours.

Regards brian r.

I do a similar thing - I record what I saw and where along with Sunderland home wins in the premier league. Saying as I've only been birding less than 3 full year I don't keep a log:-(

More seriously, Midlands Birder, that is fantastic what you do, and would be of great use to local bird clubs etc. also, I rarely report sightings to the county recorder. I have quite a good memory and can recall all of my sightings - locations, if not the dates.

I'm resolving to be more active, use my scoping gear more, keep better (computer) records, report more sightings at county level and more reports (if they warrant it) to Rare Bird Alerts paging system.

I find time a problem with so many hobbies and so little time - at least that's the excuse in early.

I use the Birdwatchers logbook (£7.95 from all good retailers) and adapt it for life birds, Northumberland Birds, Durham Birds and as from 2005, year birds - I'm not interested in ticking birds on a monthly basis, so have taken care of the decade or so by using each month as a year. Some may call it tight, I call it creative.

[buckskin hawk]

This thread has inspired me to take some time to put together a scrape book. Sounds like something great to do on a cold day in January.

[Cathy H]

Hi Guys,

It's fascinating to read how all of you keep your records. As Keith will know, I've only just started keeping my records, and I use a small notebook when I'm out with all sorts of scribbles and awful drawings for identification purposes. When I get home, I transfer my info to a diary, and I also try to take photos so I can build up a library, of what I've seen.

Cheers,

[djv]

Thanks for sharing all these ideas about how to improve my records. And I like knowing that others, like Midlandsbirder, include nonbird info as well. I have been feeling embarrassed because I make nonbirding notes as ideas come to me.

[matt green]

lately i just print off a copy of my monthly lists that get sent to the county recorder,then store it inside a plastic wallet in a ring binder.

matt

[lvn600]

I have not been recording the most comon of birds. I jot down birds of interest for each location along with any comments. I transfer this info to a program that tracks all the info. For some of my local spots that I visit often I will also do a full bird checklist 4 times a year. At the end of the year I printed out all sightings by location. I put the info in a binder with page protectors. I also keep a section of photos of birds. Credit is due to those who keep more detailed records.Tracking evey bird seen is just to tedious for me now and takes the joy out of it. Of course, everything is subject to change.

[Keith Dickinson]

Originally Posted by lvn600

Credit is due to those who keep more detailed records.Tracking evey bird seen is just to tedious for me now and takes the joy out of it. Of course, everything is subject to change.

Being able to look back through my notes for the year is one of the benefits of logging every bird. I can almost relive the walk as I read through the notes.
Also by logging everything it soon becomes apparent if anything has changed. I can pinpoint when the decline in house sparrows first become obvious in my locale from my notes, early in 1992, similarly with other birds I can get the information because it was logged initially. This sort of thing was brought home to me by one of the committee of the Leeds RSPB group. He recalled a time when the Leeds Birdwatchers Club was asked 'how many starlings roost in the city centre?' , the group couldn't answer the question because nobody had been logging the presence of starlings, leave out actually counting them. So information about ALL birds is important, whether to yourself or to the scientific bodies who can use the data you provide.

[aythya_hybrid]

When I was a teenager with too much time on my hands, I used to take copious field notes which I would then write up in excruciating detail on the computer once I got home.

I now sometimes take field notes but always write up the days birding in a word document, including relevant photos and things.

I find that if one is too meticulous (as I used to be) it can detract. I once missed out on a Ring Ouzel because I was too busy scribbling something pointless in my field notebook, and my logbooks from when I was a kid are tedious and often embarassing. So brevity is often a virtue. But having said that, it also helps one's ID skills if you try to look carefully at things.

[Keith Dickinson]

Aythya,
Do you know the BTO species codes? These make note taking so much quicker, easier and accurate. If you have a copy of the birdwatchers yearbook they are on the right hand side of the log charts. I have been using them for all my notes since I started doing the BTO Breeding Bird Survey a few years ago. The only time I have to write a bird's name now is for a rarity.

[lvn600]

[quote=Keith Dickinson]

So information about ALL birds is important, whether to yourself or to the scientific bodies who can use the data you provide.

I agree-and I'm glad there are people like you who are willing to do it.

[John151]

Last September 2005, I went to a lecture entitled "Changing Wildlife Around Southwell Since 1970," or something like that. The Lecturer was an artist by profession. His lecture was slide based, each slide being a copy of a different page of his notes. Every page had a sketch depicting a creature in its environment and his hand written notes. Every page was a work of art, just as interesting as the wildlife depicted. How I wish I could do that!

[snowdragon]

my field notes are a total disgrace.they include everything from birds,butterflies,dental appointments,etc.there are some nice ideas here.i was thinking of doing separate books for sites i visit on a regular basis,a home made fieldguide for my favourite sites.

[mcapper]

I've now started using a filofax (no yuppy comments please!). It is ring bound and I have a day per page diary insert. I also have a lined notebook at the back.

I jot day to day sightings in the relevant diary entry and if it needs more detailed notes - such as my raptor work or a visible migration session, I add in a page from the notebook as required.

At the end of the year, I take out all the empty pages and store the rest.

I used to not record stuff accurately enough but now I have the diary with me most of the time and find things are kept much more up to date. Ideally I'd like to use a page per day bound diary similar to Hugh but don't find it portable enough.

I put all my records on an excel spreadsheet purely for the benefit of local conservation organisations. I submit records to the Sheffield Bird Study Group, Deberyshire Ornithological Society, Peak District National Park and Sorby Natural History Society. This way saves writing out multiple record sheets and with the computerisation of records, it means that organisations can merge my records into their own databases without masses of retyping.

All very time consuming but I think ultimately worthwhile. I'd love to have a nice notebook with drawings and pictures but just don't have the time (nor the talent for the drawings!).

Matthew

[adam321]

i do not do much bird watching because i don't have a lot of free time. but i sometimes go out on walks with my bins (although i am looking for a scope). do you think it is still important to keep records?

P.S. sorry if this is not entirely relevant to this thread.

[Keith Dickinson]

Originally Posted by adam321

i do not do much bird watching because i don't have a lot of free time. but i sometimes go out on walks with my bins (although i am looking for a scope). do you think it is still important to keep records?

P.S. sorry if this is not entirely relevant to this thread.

Hi Adam, keeping notes will help you gain more experience in your birding, you can look back on notes from previous years and see what has been about etc. If you wish you can submit your notes to the county recorder (I do) and then they will contribute to the ornithological knowledge of your area.

[Frogbad]

I use a small policemans type notebook in the field for rough notes - although most are kept in my head, which I then transpose into my official diary at home (in my neatest handwriting!)

I then submit the days findings onto the Birdtrack website which then creates my year lists and life lists for me - and also allows my observations to be collated and interpretted by the BTO and RSPB. It can also do some interesting mapping on species of interest and or species seen at various locations. I assume that most people use this website - but if you don't here is the link.

http://www.bto.org/birdtrack/

[London Birder]

crappy 50p notebooks which I buy 20 at a time, then transfer field notes/counts etc into a more permanent written record (for something to read during my autumnal years) and finally onto excell for forwarding to recorders

[samuel walker]

Just mental notes for me no writing. The camera has a recorder to make wav files with. I use it in a pinch to ID photos or I can get a fellow birdwatchers email and send him a copy of a bird we both saw. All the days ticks are written to a simple database program found in Microsoft works. A friend carries a PDA with all the birds in the eastern US listed and ticks them as we go.
Sam