RSPB Big Garden Birdwatch winter sightings in the UK in 2008 [Archived]

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Description

The dataset contains the results from surveys of garden bird observations, made by the public during a one-hour period of their choice in the last weekend of January. The survey has been conducted annually since 1979. More than 70 species of birds have been observed in these surveys. Initially data for the top three species (house sparrow, starling and blackbird) are supplied; more species and data for other years will follow.

Geographic Description

UK wide. Grid references were generated from the central point of full postcodes. Within this dataset, there may be some bias towards the more populated areas of the UK.

Data quality

Observations were made and submitted by the public. The data has been mapped and checked. Species-specific filters were used to remove anomalously high counts and obviously out-of-range reports. Although the level of misidentified records may be higher than in datasets collected by more experienced observers, this is mitigated by the large sample size and standardisation between years.

Methods

Volunteers sat and watched birds for one hour during the last weekend of January, and counted the highest number of each bird species seen at any one time (not counting birds flying over). Volunteers were provided with a Counting Sheet to tally the numbers of birds, and pictures of the most common birds seen in gardens. Data was submitted to the RSPB online or using a mail-in form.<br><br>

In order to verify records and validate the dataset, the data have been mapped and checked. The distribution of the species has been approximately checked using species-specific filters to remove anomalously high counts and reports well outside the expected range. The level of misidentified records may be higher than in datasets collected by trained field-workers but this is mitigated by the large sample size.

Citation

Data reproduced with the permission of RSPB

Rights

CC-BY

Digitised records