Help Choosing a Site Name

You should enter an appropriate name in the site-name box on the site registration form. Please specify the location in words (avoid codes or numbers) using a maximum of 40 characters. You should use names that will allow you to distinguish your own sites clearly and easily, and that can also be understood by others. It will help the BirdTrack team to follow up interesting and unusual records if you use site names that we can understand without having to refer back to you. Where a site has a readily understood name that can be found on Ordnance Survey maps or is in wide use by birdwatchers then please use it. Sometimes you may need to qualify such names to indicate the part of the area where you do your bird watching. Different BirdTrack users can use the same site names (you must enter them under your own user id) and we encourage you to do this where appropriate. Initially all BirdTrack analyses will be based on grid references rather than site names but in future we hope to add reports on the birds seen at particular sites.

When you register a site you must give it a name that is different from the ones that you have already registered. However, you can have different sites with the same grid-reference or postcode. For example, three different walks from your house, all assigned to your postcode, could be registered as different sites if you wanted to keep the records from them separate.

Examples of Good Site Names

  • Ludham Bridge
  • Barnham Common
  • Loch Rannoch

Examples of Poor Site Names

  • My Garden
  • Compartment five
  • Canal walk