There are a number of different ways to report birds that you've seen and these pages aim to give you some guidance on this topic.

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General bird reporting

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All records of any birds are likely to be of use to scientists and researchers.  The BTO have therefore designed a database into which they would like all bird records entered.  You can do this online via the Birdtrack website or on your phone via the Birdtrack app.  The website can be found here:

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• BTO's Birdtrack

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Bird records can also be sent to the Suffolk Country recorders as described on the Suffolk Bird Recording page.

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Rare and Scarce birds

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For Suffolk birds, there are two main groups to whom rare or scarce birds should be reported - these are the Suffolk Ornithological Records Committee (SORC) and the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC).  Please take a look at the following page on our website for details on which species should be reported to each group and how reports should be made:

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• Reporting rare and scarce birds in Suffolk

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Ringed Birds

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Bird ringing is a massive topic and there are a large number of ringing schemes for different species located all over the world.  You can start by searching the website below for the species and types of rings in order to determine how to report:

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• EU Bird Ringing

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Dead birds

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For birds of prey, there is a national monitoring scheme which will send you a box into which you can place your dead bird of prey and you can then post the box (at no cost) back to the monitoring scheme.  It might take a while, but you will eventually receive a post-mortem report on the bird.  Details are here:

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• Predatory Bird Monitoring Scheme

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Please take appropriate precautions when handling dead birds and be aware that there can be outbreaks of bird flu during which dead birds should not be touched.

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What have others reported?

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For Suffolk birds, the Suffolk Bird Group will include pages on its website that list the rare and scarce birds recorded each year:

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• Suffolk rarities (BBRC)

• Suffolk scarcities (SORC)

 

If you are after instant information about birds in Suffolk, you might like to join BINS or join one of the national bird reporting services such as BirdGuides.