Introduction:  The submission of records is the lifeblood of the Society.  Since 1979 the BOS has used a computer to store and retrieve bird record data for analysis.  The standardization of records is an essential prerequisite for computer input and this guide is intended as a concise aide-memoire to facilitate their completion..  To newcomers the process may appear daunting at first sight, but it really is intended to provide a sufficiently high level of detail at the same time as being foolproof, so that different observers will achieve the same end result.  Records are required for recordable species, either all records or breeding records for some, flocks of above a certain specified size or roosts for others, and arrival and departure dates for the regular migrant species.  Standardized details are entered per species per month for each observer.  The entry comprises species name, date (with day, month and year separately), number, county code, parish name or site code, 1 km square (4-figure grid reference), habitat code and remarks code. 

You should have received within your new members pack a small supply of paper record cards.  These are intended as a stop-gap until you have acquired a specially designed excel spreadsheet which you can e-mail to the bird recorder at the end of each month.  Using this computer spreadsheet significantly reduces his work-load, but if you do not have a computer or still prefer to send in records on cards please do so, we would prefer this rather than loose your records.