Reporting your records

Submitting records...

and why it's important

The Cambridgeshire Bird Club is responsible for gathering bird records for Cambridgeshire. These are used to produce the species reports in the Club's Bulletins, and are the main source of data for the Annual Cambridgeshire Bird Report. They are also used for scientific studies by other organisations, and relevant records are incorporated into national databases.

The area we cover

The Cambridgeshire Bird Report covers the new county of Cambridgeshire which includes the old county of Huntingdonshire, and the Peterborough Unitary Authority. View a map of the area.

Our Gazetteer has a list of birding sites in Cambridgeshire, with a grid reference available for each site. Precise OS grid references for any location can be easily obtained on Grabagrid.

Submitting records

Read the Guidelines on what records we need – this includes commoner birds, breeding records, rarer birds requiring a description, exotics and hybrids.

We prefer to receive records by email to the County Recorder, Jon Heath, on the records Excel spreadsheet. We have a revised Checklist for 2020 and onwards, and the spreadsheet has been changed accordingly - download revised 2020 spreadsheet. We have written some spreadsheet guidelines with examples.

What we do with the records

All records are added to a master spreadsheet, which is used to produce the Bulletin and Annual Report.

The data are available from Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Environmental Records Centre (CPERC) for other purposes; eg. scientific use, site information and planning applications.

Submitting records of rarities

All BBRC species, potential county firsts (full species and races) and species that are rare in the County require a full description. Records of rare and scarce species should be submitted, with an accompanying description, preferably via email, for vetting by the Rarities Committee, to the County Recorder Jon Heath.

Records of national rarities

Records currently assessed by the British Birds Rarities Committee (BBRC) require a full description. Description forms are available from the BBRC website or from the relevant County Recorder, who will forward the completed forms to the BBRC. It would be most helpful if observers intending to send their forms directly to the BBRC could provide a copy/notes for the relevant Recorder.

You can download a CBC Rarities Form.

Records Committee

The records committee operates according to the CBCRC Guidelines. The Committee members are : Robin Cox (non-voting Committee Chairman), Bruce Martin (non-voting Committee Secretary), Steve Cooper, Richard Grimmett, Mark Ward, Jonathan Taylor and Richard Thomas.

Documents and guidelines

Observer guidelines, including species requiring a description (PDF)
Records spreadsheet (Excel)
Spreadsheet guidelines (PDF)
CBC Rarities Form (RTF)
Records Committee Guidelines

Rare breeding birds

In order to minimise the impact of disturbance on rare breeding birds, while still encouraging the proper reporting of these species, the Rare Breeding Birds Panel has compiled some guidelines on how records of these species should be handled during the breeding season.