Increasing involvement of young birders‏ with local bird clubs (1 Viewer)

[Matt Griffiths]

I received an email from a West Midland Bird Club Management Committee member asking for opinions on how the involvement of young members (say under the age of 40) with the Club could be increased. The member is also interested in how bird clubs in general might be able to increase young birders' involvement, so I thought I'd ask on here. An edited version of the email is below.

To young birders, what are your opinions of local bird clubs? Are there any barriers stopping you from being actively involved with your local club? A larger portion of young people keen on wildlife seem (to me) to be more into twitching and especially photography than pure local birding and bird surveys, so are bird clubs relevant to all of these forms of observing birds?

To other birders, what are your thoughts on this? Are there clubs currently with quite a lot of young helpers? Are there ways that clubs can attract more young birders to play active roles?

My hope is that a number of bird clubs (not just WMBC) may possibly be able to benefit from this discussion, so look forward to your responses. Thanks.

Matt

At the last West Midland Bird Club Management Committee meeting there was a fair amount of discussion on how to get a greater degree of involvement from younger members in the running of the Club – an essential as, if there is no succession to the present (largely but fortunately not exclusively) ageing bunch, there won’t be a WMBC in say thirty years’ time.

Only three younger members appear to have had any involvement in recent years in the running of Club matters. One as recorder for two years on a nestbox project, who had to give it up due to work commitments, but has since helped with the forthcoming Annual Report. Another as branch secretary at Stafford, who also has had to stand down (possibly due to pressure of work). The third as branch secretary at Birmingham, who apparently has a busy lifestyle and doesn’t consider they have scope for taking on extra commitments within WMBC.

So is the lack of involvement from younger members due to:

1. 24/7 work ethic, and working life is simply too busy for members under 40 to take a significant role in the Club’s management.
2. Perception among the under 40s that WMBC is simply not run in a manner with which they can identify?

If the latter, what aspects of the way the Club operates are felt to be in need of improvement?

Are the branch activities still useful/relevant, and do the branches still serve a useful purpose in communication between the Management Committee and the members? (Indoor meetings have been dropped by Birmingham for lack of support, and the only branch where they get good support is Kidderminster. Stafford have dropped field meetings for lack of support, and the only branch where support is good is Birmingham, for the long-haul trips).

The quality of the website has in recent times become a subject of criticism. We are very conscious of this, and steps are in hand to improve the situation.

I shall be interested to know what you, and near-contemporaries among your birding friends and fellow-members, see as the changes necessary to move the Club forward, make it more easily identifiable for younger members, and encourage them to be more involved in future management. Responses received will be looked at during the next Management Committee meeting, and views will be received with interest and respect.

 

[geoffw1946]

Regarding the WMBC, I was a member for many years but dropped out in 2003. I'd got the annual reports from 1953 to 2002 and then had no more room for anymore. I'm still a member of the WMBC Yahoo forums but it seems they are on their last legs, with very little activity. I would suggest that the WMBC take a look at the Lincs Bird Club Forum and copy them.
Re young birders, I'm out birding every day but rarely see any birders under 50, perhaps there all out twitching or just don't exist anymore.
Geoff

 

[baggie_dave]

I feel well placed to at least give my thoughts on this topic (for what it is worth). I have dumped a load of thoughts in 1 response here so apologies if it is disjointed!!

I live 5 miles out of Birmingham City Centre and am a keen amateur birdwatcher and although I have often looked into joining or getting involved in the WMBC I have not found it an attractive enough proposition to entertain at the moment.

I am 27 years young and have a busy job in Birmingham every weekday. With a wife and first child on the way early next year, I barely have time for birdwatching as it is let alone having the time to join and become an active member of a local bird club.

If the WMBC want to try and encourage younger members, they need to be doing more to actively go out there and improve their image. Social media will be a key part of this. I know they have a twitter account for example and it has 2,500 followers but what do they use it for? It doesn’t seem to have been used really for a few months now and even then it is only mentioning balloon releases and a few re-tweets of trips. Should it not be used as much for advertising talks, memberships, reports, perks of membership, reserves etc.?

The website as you mention is also looking dated. I think an excellent example of a regional birding site is on www.skye-birds.com. It contains many similar aspects to the WMBC site such as places of interest, annual reports and merchandise, recent sightings, blogs, contacts and details but all in a much more accessible and easy on the eye design. If a similar style or approach could be taken to the WMBC site but with the additional areas of membership, permits, meetings, trips etc. it would be a huge step forward. The same could be said for the Facebook page in terms of usage and updating.

I guess a big part of the issue is that nowadays, everything a birder could need is available to them quickly and easily. For trips they can plan exactly where and when and make their own way there based on latest sightings and weather patterns. For ID help they have guides, software and forums. For sightings we have Birdguides and RBA. In light of this, what are the benefits of joining a club like WMBC? I would suggest the benefits need to be highlighted as much as possible. I think having the experience of local birders is huge, being able to talk to locals who know the best places to go, and give advice on where, when, what etc. is a big positive. Other aspects such as access to reserves and local annual reports are also useful. It’s USP, which is something that none of the likes of RBA, Birdguides, software or Google has is that it is local, it is the area we work and live in and do most of our birdwatching in and where the interest lies, having a resource which builds on that is vital.

It is difficult to know what can be done in the future. The WMBC may need to re-invent itself in a similar way to the RSPB. If they can bring disparate parts of social media together in a clean and crisp website, expand it further through forums and user-generated content (field reports (“My local patch” for eg), photos, videos, auction room for 2nd hand equipment etc.) it would help set them up for the future. Although the club has noted that field trips and talks have declined, I feel this is inevitable and the future of the club lies in the digital world. It may be the case that if a suitable volume of people can be encouraged to join over time, that the meetings and field trips etc can continue for the older generation who have more time to dedicate to these activities and events. The needs of all age groups and indeed all abilities need to be catered for. I have looked at previous topics for talks and they aren’t particularly attractive for amateur birders so have never attended.

The club traditionally to me at least comes across as an exclusive club where you need to pay to get anything and there isn’t anything at the moment for young and new birders to encourage them to want to join. I can think of a lot of ideas that can be incorporated into the club but they sit most easily into a website so I think that would be the best place to start.

I have also only ever met a handful of birdwatchers younger than myself, but the RSPB is a fantastic example of targeting the recruitment of young members. At my wife’s work she was amazed to discover how many people she works with are members of the RSPB. All local but not especially keen birdwatchers, they just have a general interest in birds and conservation.
Maybe having a variety of membership levels and tailored free local newsletters and news for example would be a way forward to attract newer casual members and get them involved so that in the future they go on to be more involved and interested in the club and its running.

This is all a very big task to manage and may need to be spearheaded by those older members who have the time to dedicate to driving the club forward with the input of the younger members.

In summary, the club needs to embrace social media to keep a link to local birdwatchers who have little time to dedicate to a club, revamp its website and make any changes necessary to at least feel more approachable and attractive to younger and amateur birdwatchers in the local region. There are however certain aspects such as time and money which cannot be fixed!!

Cheers :t:

 

[IAN JAMES THOMPSON]

I just joined my local RSPB Local Members Group in April and they are most welcoming. They have regular field trips to excelent Bird Watching areas locally, and not just RSPB Reserves. They also have regular guided walks by volunteers from the Group and they also have regular indoor meetings with interesting talks and slide shows about Birds and Wildlife in general. But I'm not young as I'm 61, but what I did notice there a number of younger members of the Local Group, including one who is just 16 years old and is one of the volunteers of the Group who leads some of the guided walks.
Ian.

 

[rollingthunder]

I think the RSPB is where the 'younger' members gravitate towards as they can go and visit top reserves with like-minded people, have an enjoyable day out at, say somewhere like, Titchwell and learn a bit.

Belvide (Permit only, as we are constantly reminded) does'nt quite have the same allure.

They are a 'club' and are people that 'clubby' these days?

I am still surprised by the amount of people that appear to 'twitch' on their own maybe we are becoming a more insular society?

Laurie:t:

 

[Brian Stretch]

Thanks for starting this thread Matt. It’s a tough one to solve in engaging younger people with birding. The increased profile of wildlife on the TV with programmes such Spring Watch and Autumn Watch etc surely has helped make wildlife watching more acceptable to the general public and this renewed enthusiasm needs to be translated at a local level.

With regard to the WMBC I think it has two choices: It needs to raise its profile in the region generally and in particular Worcestershire. At the moment it is very Staffordshire orientated. Or, the club calls it a day and the four counties have their own individual clubs.

The problem with the latter option is that four individual clubs will face the same problems as most bird clubs - recruiting enough members and volunteers.

When I was the county bird recorder for Worcs I mentioned to a club representative that the WMBC needed to be more pro-active in the county. His response was that ‘we had the Fred Dale reserve’ (Wyre Forest) which was a strange statement considering the WMBC no longer have it. In fact it was never in Worcs. It was just over the county boundary in Shropshire.

The main question I’ve asked myself as a Worcs birder is why would you join the WMBC? For the current £30 annual fee for ‘inclusive membership’ one receives the annual report (2010 is the ‘latest’ to be published), five issues of the Bulletin and access to the five reserves: Belvide, Blithfield, Gailey (all Staffs), Harborne (W.Mids) and Ladywalk (Warks). Alternatively one can pay for the ‘standard membership’ fee of £20 and for this you get the annual report and the five issues of the Bulletin but no reserve access. It’s also possible to just buy the annual report for the cover price without the need to become a member.

For many Worcs birders, very few would opt to go for a days birding to the two main reserves in Staffs at Belvide and Blithfield, because they are too far, especially when you factor in traffic congestion on the M6. Ladywalk also doesn’t appeal for similar reasons and anyway, we have Upton Warren which hosts a similar range of species. Many birders living on the southern side of the West Mids conurbation will head south in to Worcs, largely to Upton Warren.

The difficulty for the club is how can it increase membership (of all age groups) in Worcestershire when there is little incentive for birders to sign up. I know many local birders, and good numbers of those are members of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and also the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust so that they can access Slimbridge which is easier to access than any of the main WMBC reserves.

I certainly agree with Dave above, the club needs to embrace social media more actively. In addition the website needs a revamp to make it more attractive, concise and relevant to draw more birders in and hopefully encourage them to sign up.

Brian
________________
Worcester Birding
Follow Worcester Birding on Twitter @WorcsBirding

 

[woodwolf]

Thanks for starting this thread Matt. It’s a tough one to solve in engaging younger people with birding. The increased profile of wildlife on the TV with programmes such Spring Watch and Autumn Watch etc surely has helped make wildlife watching more acceptable to the general public and this renewed enthusiasm needs to be translated at a local level.

With regard to the WMBC I think it has two choices: It needs to raise its profile in the region generally and in particular Worcestershire. At the moment it is very Staffordshire orientated. Or, the club calls it a day and the four counties have their own individual clubs.

The problem with the latter option is that four individual clubs will face the same problems as most bird clubs - recruiting enough members and volunteers.

When I was the county bird recorder for Worcs I mentioned to a club representative that the WMBC needed to be more pro-active in the county. His response was that ‘we had the Fred Dale reserve’ (Wyre Forest) which was a strange statement considering the WMBC no longer have it. In fact it was never in Worcs. It was just over the county boundary in Shropshire.

The main question I’ve asked myself as a Worcs birder is why would you join the WMBC? For the current £30 annual fee for ‘inclusive membership’ one receives the annual report (2010 is the ‘latest’ to be published), five issues of the Bulletin and access to the five reserves: Belvide, Blithfield, Gailey (all Staffs), Harborne (W.Mids) and Ladywalk (Warks). Alternatively one can pay for the ‘standard membership’ fee of £20 and for this you get the annual report and the five issues of the Bulletin but no reserve access. It’s also possible to just buy the annual report for the cover price without the need to become a member.

For many Worcs birders, very few would opt to go for a days birding to the two main reserves in Staffs at Belvide and Blithfield, because they are too far, especially when you factor in traffic congestion on the M6. Ladywalk also doesn’t appeal for similar reasons and anyway, we have Upton Warren which hosts a similar range of species. Many birders living on the southern side of the West Mids conurbation will head south in to Worcs, largely to Upton Warren.

The difficulty for the club is how can it increase membership (of all age groups) in Worcestershire when there is little incentive for birders to sign up. I know many local birders, and good numbers of those are members of Worcestershire Wildlife Trust and also the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust so that they can access Slimbridge which is easier to access than any of the main WMBC reserves.

I certainly agree with Dave above, the club needs to embrace social media more actively. In addition the website needs a revamp to make it more attractive, concise and relevant to draw more birders in and hopefully encourage them to sign up.

Brian
________________
Worcester Birding
Follow Worcester Birding on Twitter @WorcsBirding

Pretty well sums it up Brian.
I have been a member for a few years now, but with only 1 trip to Belvide in each of the last 2 years ( due to distance/time to get there ), I was wandering whether to renew next time around. The club does not offer much for my location, save for the talks at Kidderminster, which I believe are well supported, but I often find hard to get to after work personally.
I would like to see a local organisation that could encourage new young birders to get involved in local patch watching,recording and studying what they see. I would hate to think that youngsters nowdays think birding is all about squatting in a hide at different reserves, that certainly does nothing for their field skill development or appreciation of the wider environmental issues. I appreciate that with many younger people time increasingly pressured, the temptation to hit the local reserve for a potentially more rewarding fix is great..

The more young people engage with their birding locally, the greater will be the chances of preserving and improving habitat in general. I fear birding could become largely confined to reserves and other sites owned by wildlife organisations in the future, if habitat is continually lost or abused.

I guess therefore I would want to see WMBC finding a way to engage on a more local level, be less Staffordshire orientated, more devolved, and fill the niche of encouraging people/youngsters to engage with wildlife locally a little more.

 

[Matt Griffiths]

Thanks everyone for your responses. It's a shame the WMBC have no reserves south of Birmingham - Salford Priors GP, Grimley or perhaps some land adjoining a river would make an excellent bird reserve for this side of the region.
Matt

 

[Joeturner11]

To be honest with you iam a young wildlife Photographer (aged 15) I have never heard of these bird clubs round by my area so never had the chance to get involved

 

[mtaylor87]

As a 25 yr old male, I have looked into it and the wmbc page and pondered. For me it was more a matter of what would I benefit from it?
I only started getting into birdwatching after falling in love with springwatch this year. But now it is a passion... My lunch hours are spent walking rather than eating... First thing I do when i get home is run to the window to scout the multiple feeders I have invested in and my current count stands at only 50 (over 3 months or so).
I know I WOULD benefit from it, and birders I have met In hides where my in laws live(newcastle upon Tyne) have been very friendly, it's more a matter of I don't get the time to visit hides and spots to benefit fully from it and its members. I work 5 days one week, 6 the next, 8.30 until 6pm. My evenings and weekends off are generally spent with my fiancée. We visit reserves, but she does it more for the walk than the birds. In fact she gets frustrated at me stopping to look or listen for too long!

How could I be persuaded to join? Well it's a real good question. I thinks hat puts me off at the minute is how novice i am. I have a v v v cheap set of binoculars that I think are like 8x12(?????) and no other equipment. With perhaps some kind of introduction event with one or two more experienced members with maybe communal (or belonging to wmbc) equipment was available to use?

I think pride is the issue for me... I won't get my binoculars out in a hide with other people in it as I'm scared of being laughed at! I will sit for an hour to see if they leave first!

Ultimately it's something I will do. I'm just questioning if the time is right, especially during the winter months.

 

[IAN JAMES THOMPSON]

As a 25 yr old male, I have looked into it and the wmbc page and pondered. For me it was more a matter of what would I benefit from it?
I only started getting into birdwatching after falling in love with springwatch this year. But now it is a passion... My lunch hours are spent walking rather than eating... First thing I do when i get home is run to the window to scout the multiple feeders I have invested in and my current count stands at only 50 (over 3 months or so).
I know I WOULD benefit from it, and birders I have met In hides where my in laws live(newcastle upon Tyne) have been very friendly, it's more a matter of I don't get the time to visit hides and spots to benefit fully from it and its members. I work 5 days one week, 6 the next, 8.30 until 6pm. My evenings and weekends off are generally spent with my fiancée. We visit reserves, but she does it more for the walk than the birds. In fact she gets frustrated at me stopping to look or listen for too long!

How could I be persuaded to join? Well it's a real good question. I thinks hat puts me off at the minute is how novice i am. I have a v v v cheap set of binoculars that I think are like 8x12(?????) and no other equipment. With perhaps some kind of introduction event with one or two more experienced members with maybe communal (or belonging to wmbc) equipment was available to use?

I think pride is the issue for me... I won't get my binoculars out in a hide with other people in it as I'm scared of being laughed at! I will sit for an hour to see if they leave first!

Ultimately it's something I will do. I'm just questioning if the time is right, especially during the winter months.

I live in the North East as well in Gateshead and I'm a member of the RSPB and I've just joined the RSPB Local Members Group in Newcastle this year as I mentioned earlier in this thread. They have have indoor meetings in the centre of Newcastle, they have field trips to good local bird watching areas that are called Field Trips, not neseserally RSPB reserves and also quite a number of guided walks led by volunteers from the Group all over this area. I've really enjoyed joining this Local Group.
Ian.

 

[mtaylor87]

Hi Ian, I have seen them advertised in the hides I go to (bought a key from thornley woods) but only come up for 1 weekend a month. Also felt they were quite pricey too, as interesting as they look.

 

[Andy Hurley]

I received an email from a West Midland Bird Club Management Committee member asking for opinions on how the involvement of young members (say under the age of 40) with the Club could be increased. The member is also interested in how bird clubs in general might be able to increase young birders' involvement, so I thought I'd ask on here. An edited version of the email is below.

To young birders, what are your opinions of local bird clubs? Are there any barriers stopping you from being actively involved with your local club? A larger portion of young people keen on wildlife seem (to me) to be more into twitching and especially photography than pure local birding and bird surveys, so are bird clubs relevant to all of these forms of observing birds?

To other birders, what are your thoughts on this? Are there clubs currently with quite a lot of young helpers? Are there ways that clubs can attract more young birders to play active roles?

My hope is that a number of bird clubs (not just WMBC) may possibly be able to benefit from this discussion, so look forward to your responses. Thanks.

Matt

Hi Matt,
I'm an "old fart", 53, and I thought when I read your post "West Midland Bird Club Management Committee" sounds very stuffy and dated. The name in itself could be changed to be a bit more enticing to younger people. I'm not saying they are not amenable to change and they obviously want a younger membership, but image is very important. Having an informal talk using modern multimedia apps to showcase what is out there in the local area would go a long way, but to get the younger birder interested in the first place, you might try visiting schools, or setting up stall at local reserves, with younger, more dynamic people selling the club to the younger generation.

 

[Neil Duggan]

It seems the WMBC are well aware they need to offer something else and it's good Matt's involved.

Based in Redditch I've never been tempted to join as others have pointed out the image of the club and website is very unattractive and reserves don't offer any appeal in terms of location when we have the like of Upton / Grimley close.

I would be very interested if any of the thoughts/ideas are implemented by the committee however fully understand it takes resource and time to address some of these things.

 

[matthewlissimore]

I'm a wildlife artist and photographer living near Brierley Hill West Midlands. I am 21 and have never really seen or herd of Bird clubs in our area either. The only one i've looked into is West Midlands Bird Club. I've met a couple of the members at Bodenham Arboretum who were doing bird surveys but never saw them again. I have joined the Wildlife Trust and National Trust. I mainly visit the Wyre Forest and work with the Wyre Forest Study Group on a regular basis and I also visit Upton Warren Wildlife Trust Reserve. Everyone I have met so far says that they need more young naturalists getting stuck in and learning about the wildlife in our local area. We have some fantastic hot spots for wildlife! Check out my website and Flickr if your interested in seeing my work. I'm also up for maybe meeting some more individuals with similar interests. Maybe we could sort a meeting and get our heads together.

http://matthewlissimore.com/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mattlissimoreillustration/

 

[Gill Osborne]

I thinks hat puts me off at the minute is how novice i am. I have a v v v cheap set of binoculars that I think are like 8x12(?????) and no other equipment. With perhaps some kind of introduction event with one or two more experienced members with maybe communal (or belonging to wmbc) equipment was available to use?

I think pride is the issue for me... I won't get my binoculars out in a hide with other people in it as I'm scared of being laughed at! I will sit for an hour to see if they leave first!

I know EXACTLY what you mean :smoke: To me, £300 is a lot of money as I only work part-time and I've never had the cash to get any of the more expensive binoculars or telescopes that I see others with. I'm currently using a pair of Opticron Imagic bins which cost £65 and a cheapo scope which was around £100 in a camera shop in Morpeth :-O And being a female...well, that usually means I'm outnumbered by blokes almost every time I go out birding :-O
Yes, it CAN be a tad intimidating entering a hide (or approaching a group) and seeing that sea of Swarovski & Leica but what the heck....I just smile and chat away to anyone The arrogant pr!cks who've forgotten what it's like to be a beginner (and we ALL were at one point ) don't speak anyway, even if you ask them anything, but most birders are really nice and will chat away about what's been seen and in a lot of cases will let you look through their scopes to get a better view :t: One of our locals who I do regard as an expert (and a jolly nice person too!) showed me a Wood Sandpiper last year through his Swarovski scope (I'd already found it in my bins) and it was mind-blowing.....I'll swear I could see the eyelashes on that bird!!!! :eek!: Definitely one to save my pennies up for

Anyway I'm waffling on....basically I'm just saying get out there and enjoy seeing the birds and wildlife and not worry about what 'brand' of binocular or scope you have :king:

 

[Cheshire Birder]

..basically I'm just saying get out there and enjoy seeing the birds and wildlife and not worry about what 'brand' of binocular or scope you have :king:

Good optics do not always = good birders.

CB

 

[Gill Osborne]

That is SO true CB 3 I've known some folks with really expensive scope & bins completely misidentify really easy birds....and not by a mis-sighting either - they genuinely did NOT know what they were looking at :smoke: If something like this happens I always try to guide them to the proper id but in a way that doesn't make them feel embarrassed or small in front of others. We were all beginners once after all, and even now, nearly 30 years on, I still get confuzzled at times so ask folks 3 I do get the odd person looking at me as though I'm thick and they don't say anything but in 99% of cases there WILL be some lovely birders around who will guide me and show me the pointers that make it Bird X instead of Bird Y :t:

The main thing is that folk ENJOY what they're looking at :king: