Wildlife recording/diary thing

[htcdude]

Just wondering what/if people use to record their wildlife sightings? Simply buy a notepad and jot them down? Or buy a diary so that dates are already written for you? I want to start recording a bit more in 2012, so looking for the best/tidiest way.

Thanks!

Nige

[Burko]

My camera phone can store dates and GPS location. That's a nice quick way of doing things for me. I tend to record track and field sign images.

[htcdude]

Yeah i figured a phone or something electronic might be the way, but I don't have anything like that, I'm a bit old fashioned

Nige

[artdemole]

Make rough notes on a pad.Digital record can then made using a spread sheet in Word ,Excel or The Free Open Office.You can then produce graphs of monthly fluctuations,Year on year trends.Even add extra notes later.Can then be stored on CD , external hard drive or online storage.

[Geoff F]

I try to photograph as much as possible and to some extent treat my camera as a 'digital notepad'. Then carry a 'real' notepad plus pen for any additional information, like sizes etc, or noting very common easy to identify species which can simple be jotted down.

But I have sometimes found that when I examine my photos I have actually snapped something which is more interesting than my first quick impression.

Then download the camera every day and do a quick ID check of species, plus the notepad which is entered onto a 'holding pad'; which is simply an 'exercise' type of lined paper pad. Questionable species can be further examined, at least photographically, when time permits.

When able, and I am confident of the correct identification, it all gets entered onto the 'official' computer records. Often in several forms, using copy and paste (which doesn't always work for me) to create separate spreadsheet copies of specific families which can be sent to the various recording organisations.

But whether my full records will every be of any interest to anyone else is rather uncertain.

[Fauna]

Hi Nige...

You could look at using some sort of recording software...this is one that i use MapMate - Specification and Features

Regards Chris...

[tameblackbirds]

A plain book for me and a good Parker pen. Add my photo's and pressed flowers

[htcdude]

Thanks all for the suggestions!

For some reason I do prefer just having a hard copy of things like sightings/recordings, so I'll keep an eye out for a decent sized diary and just use a plain pad for now.

I don't think I'd have time to transfer it all to electronics at the moment

Thanks!

Nige

[Deb London]

Yes, I like the hard copy idea best. My personal diaries are in written form. For some reason I wouldn't dream of an electronic version. Same with the wildlife diaries and records, if I ever get around to doing any.

[JeffH]

I keep 3 notebooks (ie. hard copy - A6 pocket-sized of the 'Black n' Red' type) in which I record my observations, dates, weather conditions, etc:-

1 on Kingfishers - with a new notebook started annually

1 on Barn Owls (with a section on a Kestrel photography project I've been working on for the last couple of years) and also renewed annually

and 1 on garden sightings/observations.

But I don't keep a life or annual tick lists anymore (except for a garden list - for a talk/possible book I'm working on )

Jeff
(Schedule 1 Licence holder for Kingfishers, Barn Owls and Avocets)