Birding WebSite (1 Viewer)

Dan · Dec 28, 2002

Hello, This would be my first post.

I am designing a UK birdwatching website and would like your suggestions and ideas. What kind of things would you like to see on it? I have some ideas.. but your ideas would be very helpful.

Many Thanks

Dan

Steve · Dec 28, 2002

I would like to see a link to BF please

Thanks.

ps Welcome B

T0ny · Dec 28, 2002

Yeah, well that was predictable, but not 100% helpful. I'd suggest :
Decide on your expected viewers - do you want something for all-round birders, your average garden Blue Tit strokers, or the twitching minority ? Do you want to feature identification articles, in-depth scientific studies of population trends, habitat changes, etc, pix of birds national and international - in short, is there a niche you're trying to fill ? As Steve says, reciprocal links to other birding sites will get your hit rate up. Finance is another thing - being brutally frank, who's paying ? I've an idea that the average '50 megs of space free with your ISP' deal can get a bit fraught if the site turns out to be fantastically popular, but this is just my impression, I may be wrong.
That's my two-penn'orth - I look forward to seeing the results. Will it be ready by New Year's Day ?

Good luck and welcome.

Tony

Steve · Dec 28, 2002

you predicted it did you tony? and who says its not helpful, if the members see his site on here, id of thought it would be very helpful to him.

Tony you would not believe how unpredictable I can be.

cjay · Dec 28, 2002

Try looking at other peoples sites. locally based sites are easier to handle. also you need to promote it as much as you can so people send in their sightings to you.

CJ

paula · Dec 28, 2002

Visit other sites, see what is missing and add that missing something to your's.
Make it different from other sites,
Keep it simple
Make sure it is easy to navigate
Hope this helps!

Dan · Dec 28, 2002

Thanks for the quick response!

My Idea:-

If i could get records for the last 5 years.... At present i have just for my home county(Essex). But im sure i could get other counties data. With this data i could then allow the users to filter,search etc the data.. plot graphs,maps etc all online! Do you think this would be useful?? It will allow you to see changes in arivals of migrants etc etc.. it can do anything!!

I have the server resources, the skills to do this... would something like this be useful?

All Comments welcome.

Thanks Dan-

T0ny · Dec 28, 2002

Do you mean something like an on-line combination of the various BTO atlases, County Bird Reports, Rare Birds by Lee Evans (tm), etc. as a searchable database ? If so, I think it's an excellent idea, providing a central site for this data. Good luck.

Tony

Dan · Dec 28, 2002

Thanks,

Thats the plan.. and then i would like people to submit sighting each day.. to keep the records upto date. etc etc.

Any ideas for features would be great..

Thanks

-Dan

IanF · Dec 29, 2002

First of all I hope that your planned site has different objectives to Birdforum, else you will be competing for membership and you may struggle

A big problem will be to get people to submit their sightings everyday when there are so many already doing this ie Birdcall, Birdline, Birdforum etc...
I should think you will have to come up with an entirely new idea to attract sufficient members to keep the site going.
You may be better off trying to stick to one county initially and then expand the area covered, else utilise the information from other sites and newsgroups to build up birding maps.
I already try to judge the movement of migrants across the country in my head from viewing various sites, in the hope they may be heading my way. It works surprisingly well in so far as I have a good idea what to keep my eye ope for next time I go out.
I find the problem with using bird club data is that it is all historical, by at least a couple of months, but if you have records for five years plus, you could try to establish trends and move on to making predictions of new arrivals and departing migrants.

As has been touched upon, the more narrowly defined you make your website, the fewer the number of members you will have.
Steve in his 'subtle' manner hit the nail on the head. Reciprocal links will tremendously boost the number of visitors, but then it's up to you to keep them !

Dan · Dec 29, 2002

Thanks,

I will stuggle?? Don't you mean you will stuggle to keep your members?? hehehe

This will not be the only resource on the site, I have other features.. those, you will just have to wait and see

Dan

Camberley red · Dec 29, 2002

Try birdguides.com, birdtours.co.uk or surfbirds.com as they currently set the standard in general interest birding web sites I believe, all from slightly different angles. As mentioned before see whats missing and fill the gap! easier said than done probably.

good luck

Paul

monkeyman · Dec 29, 2002

Sounds good, so far!

Welcome to the best (or should I have left it as "beast"?) Forum on the planet, Dan!

For my fourpence-worth:

(And this depends on how scientific you aim to be)

How about a general round-up of areas; a bit like an on-line version of the 'Go birding' section in "Birdwatching", but more in depth with a "rarities seen" section etc? I for one enjoy reading about what other members see in their local patch; perhaps you could expand on that? It woulb be great to have an up-to-date/"with maps and photos" resource to "look up" when you're visiting a particular part of the country!

And I like maps!

I'm quite happy to contribute sightings from the Black Country and South Staffs ('though I can't make it on a daily basis!)

Gaye Horn · Dec 29, 2002

Migration maps and sightings would be nice and you will NOT take any members away from here it is THAT GOOD!!!hehehe

Dan · Dec 29, 2002

Thanks for the support monkeyman... Thats some good ideas there.

An idea i just had based on your post...

Each area has its own checklist. based on that month/season, detailing what should been seen (based on current sightings) and what should be seen (based on past data). Would something like this be helpful?

I really want the site to be the BirdWatchers ToolKit... so feedback and further suggestions would be great.

Dan

monkeyman · Dec 30, 2002

The idea of a checklist sounds good, cos I'm a lazy so-and-so! Anything to make life easier, eh?:t:

Need any help with graphics?

B

Dan · Dec 30, 2002

Monkeyman.. What you like with Graphics?? Ohh i see that your a freelance designer so id guess u might be good

Yeh.. Graphical help would be cool, thanks.

Thanks for your input into this MM, much appriciated.

Dan

T0ny · Jan 2, 2003

Dan,
If it's not too late, something akin to the BBRC site, showing rarities accepted but searchable by county might prove popular.

Tony

peter hayes · Jan 2, 2003

Dan

How are things moving along with your plans?

Dan · Jan 2, 2003

Hello,

Thanks Tony will have a look at that site.

Peter: I have been sorting out functions of the site research and collecting sources of sightings etc.

Thanks for everyones responses. I will have a look at the BBRC site and get back to you.

Happy New Year

Dan

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