About this Members' Area

These pages and the Birding Forum are for the benefit of Club Members and anyone with an interest in birding in Dorset. They are visible to all but you need to register to post onto the Forum. If you would like to register for the Fourm please click on the DBC Google groups link and follow the guidance.

We aim to use these pages to help all Dorset birders share information, news and ideas, learn new skills, get involved, and enjoy birding to the full.

In January and February 2021 we conducted a survey about how these pages should develop. You can read what Members said and how we have responded since then here:

Report on Members Page Survey - April 2021.pdf

Members Page Survey - One Year On - May 2022

Since the start of 2023 the Bird Club Committee has been working on a strategy to improve engagement and inclusion. As a first step, we're talking to the other bird and nature organisations in Dorset to find out what they think about our work, to listen to their ideas and to strengthen partnerships. What we've heard so far after six discussions is very illuminating and helpful. We produced a progress report on these discussions in June 2023:

Awareness and engagement discussions progress report June 2023

Open to all

Dorset Bird Club is fully committed to helping everyone with an interest - whether a young or new birder, from an ethnic minority, or with a disability - to get the most out of our wonderful shared interest. We're actively developing this aspect of the Club further: for young birders we have a new free membership offer to anyone under 25, joint with Christchurch Harbour Ornithological Group, and we're pleased to be part of a collaborative for young birders with the BTO. There's more about young birders on the 'Get Involved' page https://dorsetbirds.co.uk/members-area/get-involved/.

Also we've set up a WhatsApp group for female birders in Dorset. there is more about this on the 'Get Involved' page. If you're interested in joining and are a Dorset Bird Club member please contact veritypixiehill@gmail.com.

Stay in touch through our social media

The Covid pandemic has shown us all the massive benefit of the internet and social media. In this time of limited social contact birdwatchers, like others with a special interest, have felt a sense of belonging to a community through sharing bird news, information and photos online.

You can enjoy Dorset birds through these media supported by the Bird Club:

Twitter – since March 2020 a small team has tried to keep the Bird Club’s twitter account up to date on a daily (or hourly!) basis, sharing bird news, information and photos. We’ve tried to make it fun, interesting and educational too, such as learning how to tell the Godwits apart and the finer points of identifying Yellow-legged and Caspian Gulls. Follow us on @DorsetBirdClub, and if you want to report something exciting ‘tag’ us in your tweet (by writing ‘@DorsetBirdClub’ in your message).

Facebook – our Facebook group account is very active, allowing group members to share photos, ask for help with identification*, and generally share our interest. Visit Dorset Bird Club facebook group.
*We always welcome people requesting help with bird identification. Please post as much information as possible including date seen, location and any photos, taken from different angles if possible, as this will help others with identifying the species involved.

Dorset Bird Club Forum – Club Members and people who live, work or bird in Dorset can join our news forum. It’s a great way to share bird news and information, and is the Club’s main way to communicate with members. Great for reporting unusual sightings as you’ll be sharing the news with others in the Forum, including the bird information services Rare Bird Alert and BirdGuides, at the same time as getting your record into the daily sightings page and the Club’s database. See the panel on this page (scroll down if using a smart phone) for a link to join.  

Dorset Bird Club website and daily sightings page – Anyone can send sightings and photos to our sightings email address: dorsetbirdclub@hotmail.com The daily sightings blog is compiled each evening, selecting the most interesting records and photos received that day. We might not be able to include every report or photo received, but all sightings will be added to the BirdTrack database and used for production of the annual Dorset Bird Report. The sightings list will include occasional unverified reports, publishing here does not imply confirmed identification.

BirdTrack – This is the way we encourage everyone to report their everyday bird sightings. It’s provided by BTO and sightings can be entered from a laptop, tablet or smartphone. All Dorset sightings records entered into BirdTrack are extracted each year for the annual bird report, and are also used by the BTO to compile invaluable data about bird populations and movements. If you don’t have a BirdTrack account we urge you to set one up – you can get a lot more out of your birding if you start recording thoroughly. Complete lists of all the bird species you see or hear on a walk provide particularly useful data for the BTO, for the Bird Club and for you. And it’s great fun to see how many you can get on a bird walk! https://www.bto.org/our-science/projects/birdtrack

eBird –an online database, run by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, of bird observations providing scientists, researchers and amateur naturalists with real-time data about bird distribution and abundance. Many birders find it a simple and convenient way of recording their sightings while in the field. The Bird Club can obtain downloads of all records from Cornell. https://ebird.org/home