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Writing Trip Reports (1 Viewer)

creedence

Well-known member
Hi Everybody,

Do you think a trip report should be written in the past or present tense?

Personally I find those written in the present to be quite irritating. Maybe it's just me?
 
Can't say I have ever noticed one written in the present tense. When I used to write them it was always in the past.

Steve
 
Don’t mind either way, those updated daily may well be depicted using the present tense.
For me the only important thing is that they are an enjoyable read with plenty of information for others.
 
Think I will do my next trip report in the future tense...that way, if I know I am going to miss something, I can save my time and energy and not bother to go in the first place ☺

Otherwise, agree with Wolfbirder's comment above.
 
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Can't say I have ever noticed one written in the present tense. When I used to write them it was always in the past.

Steve

Nor me?

So instead of writing e.g 'we finally got there at 2300hrs' someone writes 'we are finally here'?

As long as info on sites and species is useful, I see no issue with it. What I don't like are 1. a report that gets posted which is basically just a list of what someone saw on a two week trip or 2. the commercial reports which mention species on a daily basis without giving any useful info and which are basically advertising.




A
 
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I am afraid I am one of those who tend to write reports in the present tense. Don't ask why, they just come out that way - I do the same also when I write them in Italian. I do apologise if someone finds them annoying to read!

On another note, I totally agree with Andy above. Also, personally I find reports without lots of text not divided in paragraphs very difficult to read, really hard on the eyes. Maybe it's because I'm getting older! And I do appreciate those reports where species' names are in bold. It makes for easier scanning if you are looking for a specific beast.
 
Think I will do my next trip report in the future tense...that way, if I know I am going to miss something, I can save my time and energy and not bother to go in the first place ☺

Otherwise, agree with Wolfbirder's comment above.

Naughty! I’ll be chuckling all morning about this!
 
Naughty! I’ll be chuckling all morning about this!

Me too, nice one Jos. I can just imagine the likes of:

"..after arriving at the site I'll be puzzled at first by a vocalisation I won't be able to put a name to, but after scrabbling up the gully on the right, just imagine how surprised I'll be to discover that the bird will eventually reveal itself to be the yet to be discovered **** *******!".... etc :-O
 
Think I will do my next trip report in the future tense...that way, if I know I am going to miss something, I can save my time and energy and not bother to go in the first place ☺

Otherwise, agree with Wolfbirder's comment above.

If only. I could have saved a fortune in fuel by only dipping local stuff instead.3:)
 
I think writing them these days tends to be very different to way back when. I rarely make a trip now without some sort of logistical help, typically an in-country ground agent. I therefore do not feel I have the right to give chapter and verse on everywhere we went and the logistics. But I do often have legitimate things I think are worth sharing, so I post weird hybrid report things. I usually get a bit of positive feedback so I think they are worthwhile.

They probably fall into the ‘this might inspire you to go and here are a few things to note carefully’ category rather than ‘print this off, get on the plane and you’re sorted’ variety. The latter are much better of course and increasingly hard to spot amongst the thousands of bird tour company reports that are posted these days (and are useful mainly for itinerary ideas and species lists).

I always make a point of reading Ian Merrill’s present-tense reports when planning a trip, if one is available. I find them very inspiring and fun to read.

On paragraphs and text, I quite agree. If I open a report and it is simply swathes or unbroken text, with no bold font for bird names, I just close it straight away. If little care is put into the presentation, I expect the same of the information included. I’m probably missing some great info by doing this but life’s too short to do anything else.

Best,
Andy
 
Can I write my trip report in the third person as if it was written by my birding widow wife from her honest point of view?

For example ... "He wanted to see the Whiskered Tern so spent all afternoon traipsing round the mud pools while I was lumbered with the kids all on my own for hours on end sitting by the swimming pool of the hotel. Eventually he got a good 'scope view of a pair....."
 
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I think the most important thing to remember is that they should be entertaining for the reader. Unless you are particularly vain, surely they are written for the amusement, education and edification of the reader not the writer. Obviously if one does not actually enjoy writing them then there is no point as this will be conveyed in the tone of the piece and therefore will not make for good reading.

In my view, a trip report should be just that..... a report of the trip rather than just a list of birds; what you did and didn't manage to see, maybe including where applicable some logistic, tips on local facilities, eateries, hostelries etc that can be recommended and maybe also a bit of local history/culture thrown in along with any interesting anecdotes that all go into making up a trip.
 
I think the most important thing to remember is that they should be entertaining for the reader. Unless you are particularly vain, surely they are written for the amusement, education and edification of the reader not the writer. Obviously if one does not actually enjoy writing them then there is no point as this will be conveyed in the tone of the piece and therefore will not make for good reading.

In my view, a trip report should be just that..... a report of the trip rather than just a list of birds; what you did and didn't manage to see, maybe including where applicable some logistic, tips on local facilities, eateries, hostelries etc that can be recommended and maybe also a bit of local history/culture thrown in along with any interesting anecdotes that all go into making up a trip.

:t:
 
There are two kinds of trip reports I appreciate:
The ones that are entertaining to read and give a good impression of the circumstances of birding. I really like the ones written by e.g. Ian Merril, Chris Gooddie
The ones that provide a lot of practical information by e.g. Hans Matheve, Ross Gallardy, Peter Collaerts, Remco Hofland.

It is quite hard for non-English speaking people to write reports that are entertaining, easier to write a practical (dry, factual) report. I often feel that I cannot express myself enough to write an entertaining report in English (never on the level of e.g. Ian Merril).

Sometimes, you get both (entertainment and information) in the same report... Those are pretty rare but e.g. all reports by Andrew Spencer, George Wagner, Pritam Baruah fall into that category.
 
I would prefer writing the trip report in the past tense. I have seen most of the trip reports in the past tense only. It had already happened. The only thing to not miss out is the sighting details, especially the rare ones and the migrants. Scientific names with the common name must be included. It should be written in such a way that anyone can refer to the report at any time. A simple readable report will do :)
 
Hi Everybody,

Do you think a trip report should be written in the past or present tense?

Personally I find those written in the present to be quite irritating. Maybe it's just me?

I used to write exclusively in the past tense but have now changed and mix it up. Stuff of mine you can find through cloudbirders is mostly past tense (though my sichuan report is an exception) but more recent material, especially my blog (thefeatheredvariety), is mostly present tense. Partly this is because the present tense feels more immediate while I am writing, and also because it feels less like I am scribing a dull narrative "first we did this, then we did that". Maybe the end product is not much different but I feel different while writing it.

I guess it might irritate some, but actually -- and contrary to what others have said above -- I write my reports mainly for me. What can I say? I must be particularly vain ;-). Actually I enjoy looking back over them and would write them even if no-one else was going to see them. It's a nice side benefit that by putting them on the web others can also glean gen and maybe a small amount of entertainment from them. But that's just me!

Cheers, Ian
 
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I have come to this thread later than others due to having been on a long birding holiday (Spain and Scotland) of at least 120 species for which I don't have time to write a report. To tell the truth, it was mostly to areas to which I have been many times before, not a journey of discovery. However, I have written reports on holidays in Barcelona, La Palma and Lord Howe Island, always in the past tense - the trips have happened.

The Vacational Trip Reports section is the first that I look at when I come to BirdForum. I also think that what I write in such a report should be interesting and useful to other members of BF. The Barcelona thread generated lots of inquiries from other BF members. I won't be going there again for a long time as some parasite robbed me of everything in a railway station there in May last year. I had enjoyed a good 3 days birding, too, including two ascents of the hill above Parc Guell, seeing lots of birds. Indeed, I even had a name for what I was going to write for BF, The Hill Which Just Keeps Giving, with apologies (or homage) to KenM.

I take the point of showing bird names in bold and also including scientific names, both suggested in the current thread. I do think that adding those (bold and scientific names) would interrupt the flow of writing. Has anyone got a method of doing these things which would make the 'task' easier?

Have anyone any opinions on Vacational Trip Reports which are basically a link to another website, such as the BFer's personal site? I thought that I had seen something in BF that tried to dissuade people from doing that, but I might have imagined it, or that might have been relaxed.

Thanks for this thought provoking thread!
 
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