Hello.
What do you do if you have a back and front garden? Last year I just surveyed the birds in my front garden but I was wondering if I should survery both my front and back garden and then add up the results, or should I just focus on one area of garden?
Paul.
Warning! This post contains atrocious spelling, and terrible grammar. Approach with extreme edginess.
Hello Heron,
I don't know the answer to this, but it seems sensible to stick to one area of the garden you can see in comfort for the whole hour. If you flit from front to back, you may miss that rare bird that has never been before!!! Conversely, you may end up counting the same birds twice if they also flit from one to the other.
Cheers, Linda.
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Hello.I think you're right Sparrow. I'd hate to be in the situation where something like a bullfinch has decided to pay me a visit and I'm looking out the wrong window. I'll probably toss a coin to decide which window to use for the hour.Paul.
Hi Heron,
Perhaps you could register both gardens separately, and do an hour at each. Any excuse to sit watching your birds for 2 hours.
Sounds like a brilliant idea Sparrow, so if I can register two counts I might just do that. I reckon I'll probably do one count on saturday morning and the second on sunday morning.
Hi heron,
I believe you can only log one set of results per address because the data is recorded based on your location. I don't think there is currently any provision for multiple sets of results in the same place. Sorry if that means you only get to put your feet up for one hour!
Graham
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Hi, just a quick question (or maybe a thought!) - i was ill during the last birdwatch so did it about 4 times over the weekend - the nice lady i spoke to said that i could submit them all, and that they would take the highest number of each species i saw - was this not right?
Hi Culintg, the results produced form the BGBW are based on average counts per garden which gives us averages for the whole country. With over 400,000 results submitted a few duplicates wouldn't make a difference in skewing the results at all - it all irons out nicely. It is standard practice for participants to submit just one set however. By everybody doing one hour, over the last weekend of January, this gives us the most accurate results possible. Just the highest numbers wouldn't give an accurate reflection of whats really out there.
Thanks
I have copied the relevant rule from the BTO weekly Garden Bird Watch and assume it will be the same for the BGBW:
You should define your 'survey area'. In most cases this will be the whole of your garden, but if you have a particularly large garden or there are parts of the garden that you cannot see from where you do your recording, then your study area will be that part of the garden that can be seen from where you do your recording.