Tuesday, August 10, 2010

West Yorkshire Ecology

WYE have been in touch with me again about supplying them with information about certain species of birds, for the purpose of protecting habitats in our area. Although I keep the records for the birdwatchers club I think its not for me to decide but for all people who subbmit their sightings to the club to make a decision on weather to pass them on or not. The species they want information on are Short-eared Owl, Merlin, Golden Plover, Common Sand, Dunlin, Twite, Snipe, Curlew, Wheatear, Whinchat, Redshank, Ring Ouzel and Lapwing.
They need the information within the next few weeks so I would appreciate any comments on this subject asap please.

Cheers Nick D
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15 comments:

Jim Welford said...

Send then the results for me, there's certainly an issue over SEO at the moment so increased awareness can only be a good thing.

8:59 pm
Nick Carter said...

I arranged for WYE to meet with local birders recently only for the meeting to be cancelled at your request Nick, are you calling another one or relying on e mail responses? I think it important that local birders understand how, why and for what purpose WYE would like the records. There is also the issue of whether payment should be sought. All these issues were on the agenda for the meeting (WYE were supplying two or possibly three representatives). personally I think this meeting should be rearraged for these issues to be clarified before birders make a decision.

8:02 am
David Sutcliffe said...

I would support a meet (or additional info for us to consider from WYE. We are unable to make an informed decision without further information. I would hope there may be some benefits for the group, especially if it was to afford additional protection for our local birds and habitats.

7:37 pm
heavy birder said...

I have spoken to Craig Thomas of the YNU, he as been in touch with WYE and he thinks that this is something we should be doing. There are two proposals, at the moment all we have to deal with is the smaller matter of supplying info on the mentioned species. Any other matters can wait until a latter date. Craig is then willing to meet with local birders and WYE.

8:24 pm
heavy birder said...

Unfortunatly Im not able to commit to a meeting at the moment. If others want one I have no problem with that, Im willing to go with the majority decision. The problem is that they need the info in the next few weeks, I could put something together for them if thats what people want.The other draw back is that most people who submitt records wont go to a meeting so apart from me ringing everbody up what else can we do.

8:51 pm
Jeff Cox said...

As a newcomer I think it would be very useful if everyone would voice their opinions either here on the blog, or in an email/phone call to Nick D.

Bird sightings are reported and recorded for a purpose. Initially this may be personal satisfaction, but later, as historical records they are invaluable and take on greater importance. As such they have a critical and irreplaceable role to play in what happens to our local birds' habitat in the future.

Please, everyone who submits records to HBWC/Nick D, have your say. If you are concerned that your records may be used for financial gain then say so. If you are worried that sensitive records may be exposed to public view, then say so - whatever your concerns (or your hopes) may be then please let Nick know what you think.

Personally I can guess where the future lies without access to the information we need. To avoid developments forever changing the habitats we know and love we need data on which to base reasoned and supportable objections.

9:45 pm
Nick Carter said...

E mail received today from Giselle Murison (WYE)

Nick Dawtrey directed me to the calderbirds blog, after our conversation the other night, and I've taken a look at the comments. I don't want to interfere in the discussion in anyway, but I wondered if I could just ask that this one point be made absolutely clear: if at all possible, we should look at the data request for the Calderdale South Pennines Bird Project and any data sharing/ other agreement with WYE as two separate issues. There is no question that any records provided for the use of the South Pennines Bird Project would, if requested, be available only to the project and to Calderdale Council, who commissioned the project. They would not form part of the WYE Recorder database, and would therefore remain unavailable to anyone outside of the project.

I think the fact that we're essentially submitting a data request at the same time as we're hoping to set up an arrangement with HBWC, has caused some confusion, but I hope I've helped clear up this point. I would greatly appreciate it if you could pass this along to members on the blog.

7:14 pm
heavy birder said...

So far I have spoken to 11 people on the phone about this matter. JB, SC, NK, BL, DJP, BS, DJS, MS, PJWS, DW, SD, another 5 Ive rang with no answer.All ive spoken to have no problem with there records being passed on to WYE although some have raised concerns about payment ie if WYE are being payed to supply this info to Calderdale Council then a certain amount should go to the Bird Club to put towards costs of publishing the bird report? any more thoughts would be welcome. If we all agree to pass on the records I will contact WYE asap. If anybody has any strong objections please give me a call.

10:31 pm
Nick Carter said...

Personally I've always been in favour of the local records being made available for conservation purposes and doubt many local birders would have objected to this. I guess concerns are more around how they will be used, who will have access and what happens to any payment they may receive for them?? I know WYE are more than prepared to discuss these aspects with us. Between you and me Nick we have done all we can to give local birders a chance to have their say, anyone who disagrees with passing info on has had plenty of opportunity to raise their concerns and discuss with WYE (or whoever). Time to move on I say.

7:59 am
darrell j prest said...

the WYE is a private company and is in no way connected to the council,im just passing on information as the WYE charge a vast amount of money for records.

do not be fooled by these people,as they want you to do the hard work and take the money for themselves.

8:12 pm
Nick Carter said...

I must admit having spent the bulk of today doing plant surveys on 118 fields (fourth time this summer) I would be very miffed if some private organisation then charged a fee for the info I have produced. The problem to me is how best can local birders' info be used to benefit the birds we all watch?

11:02 pm
heavy birder said...

Bumped into an old birding pal last night and he informed me that he did not want any of his records passing on to WYE.
I must say Im getting a bit miffed with the whole subject now.

2:45 pm
Nick Carter said...

Why not ask everyone who submits records whether they want theirs passing on to WYE and if not then exclude theirs from what you send? Surely the BOG database is good enough to be able to sort records by observers name? That way it seems everyone will be happy.

9:12 pm
Steve Cummings said...

Obviously, WYE will make a charge to people requesting information. They need to pay peoples salaries and business rate rental on their office space. I would not expect them to be making dozens of "sales" every day, so I would expect their fees to be quite high. Those charges would appear to be pretty inflated if you did not consider them within the above context.
However, in view of the fact that they would be "selling-on" information that was provided by ourselves, the financial remuneration given by them to the HBC should be equally high and commensurate with the amount of work given by numerous volunteers over many years.
From a conservation perspective, the data SHOULD DEFINITELY be made available to prevent developments taking place in sensitive areas.
So the two questions to consider are;
a) - can the information reach those that need it without the input of WYE and thus put a halt on any problem developments and if so how? And
b) - What financial offer is WYE putting on the table?

9:53 pm
Steve Cummings said...

Nick - I don't think filtering the records is really an option. It should be all or nothing.

9:56 pm

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