Yes someone commented on noise. We were in the middle of our hour when a police helicopter started to circle round, the main A41 is about 1/2 a mile away. We gave up, and started again in the afternoon. Similar frustration with birds we see regularly not showing up during the time slot.
A million people joined in on the survey last year. Explain how that kind of data could be recorded using regular scientific methods?
Citizen science operates in many ways. There are many of us regular birdwatchers who submit all our sightings, garden or otherwise, all year round through our county bird recorder. Some of us also use a system called BirdTrack to record our bird lists directly. We also contribute to breeding bird surveys, wetland bird study counts and other one-off studies. Yes the Garden Birdwatch is useful but I feel these other methods provide far more accurate data on our bird populations than what happens to be in our garden during one hour on one day.
Science doesn't run on whataboutisms. You can't write off a 43 year survey of up to a million gardens as "what happens to be in our garden during one hour on one day". The breeding bird survey has less than 3000 contributors, WeBS tells you nothing about garden bird populations and Birdtrack is still a relatively young project to provide long term data. I can also guarantee that the garden bird watch is inspiring more volunteer recorders for more in-depth studies than other areas of bird watching culture that tends to be a bit cliquey and dominated by older white men.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
Whatever you think of Mr Packham, his talking about the GBW has undoubtedly got the kids interested and they will be the ones that help to change the future. I am a bird watcher, I do the GBW, but I don't submit any of my records any where else. In fact I don't keep records.
How can you lie there and think of England When you don't even know who's in the team
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I am a bird watcher, I do the GBW, but I don't submit any of my records any where else. In fact I don't keep records.
When you don't even know who's in the team
S.Yorkshire/Derbyshire border