© SOG 2001-24
Page published:-
Date: 05/12/2024 Time: 13:04:19
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About SOG
- What is SOG?
- SOG, or to give it its full name, the Southend
Ornithological Group, consists of birders who watch
and record birds from sites in the Southend-on-Sea area
of Essex, England. It was established in the 1980s
by a group of like-minded birding friends and has
always championed the the accurate recording and
open exchange of local bird information except in
exceptional cases where this could be seriously
detrimental to the welfare of the birds
- What is SOG for?
- The primary purpose of the group is to maintain
an accurate record of birds in the Southend area,
with paricular emphasis on the status and
occurrence of less regular species. To this end,
it is necessary that SOG members should have
sufficient experience to reliably identify
whatever they find and that their records should
be trusted both within the group and beyond.
Recording and sharing local bird information is
primarily achieved through this website. Bird
records from this website are sent in bulk form
to the county recorder to contribute to the
Essex Bird Report. As nobody in SOG has the time
or inclination to manually process all the
record submissions, this site is fully automated
so that observers can post bird news directly
onto the site. Automated submission of reports
to this website is necessarily restricted to
known local birders in order to maintain the
accuracy of the recorded data and also to avoid
the anonymous posting of irrelevant or offensive
material.
- What area does SOG cover?
- For a definition of the SOG recording area,
click here.
- How is SOG organised?
- For many years SOG operated as a formally
organised group with a committee, constitution,
paying members and a periodic bird report.
In recent years, SOG has become an informal
group of birders without a committee or formal
membership. We are able to function informally
as all members know each other, and there is a
high level of co-operation and trust within the
group. Membership is also informal, with no
membership list or subscriptions, although
members generally know who else is a member
and are expected to maintain the group's values.
Members can submit their records on-line to the
SOG website.
- How can I contact SOG?
- The informal nature of SOG means there is no
obvious public contact point for the group.
In practice, most people who wish to contact
SOG know a SOG member and can approach the group via that person.
- How do people become SOG members?
- As mutual trust between members is at the heart
of the group, it is not possible for new people to
join the group simply by asking. Before anybody can
join SOG, they must become known to the group and
a level of mutual trust and credibility has to
be established. The main criteria for membership
are an interest in Southend birds, sufficient
experience to record birds accurately, sharing
the group philosophy of open exchange of
information and not to annoy other people
in the group! There is, of course, no formal
process to determine this and typically such
mutual understanding takes a considerable
time to reach. If there is then a consensus within
the group that the new person would be an appropriate
member, they may be invited to join and submit records.
- Why are there two websites for Southend Birds?
- You have probably noticed there is an excellent
website devoted to birding in Southend which is run
by the South East Essex RSPB Group.. People have asked why
Southend needs two birding websites and why we don't
join forces? Well, both sites co-operate closely but
have different objectives. This site is primarily
intended to facilitate the accurate recording of
local birds by experienced birders and the sharing of that
information, whereas the RSPB local group site aims
to promote an interest in local birds and bird
conservation to a wide audience, as is wholly
appropriate for an RSPB endorsed website. Of course,
there is some overlap. Both sites feature up-to-date
bird news, much of that on the RSPB site originating
as postings on this site and being forwarded to the
RSPB site. Some members of the RSPB local group,
including their webmaster, submit their records to
this site while almost all SOG birders are members
of the RSPB. Both SOG and the local RSPB group feel
the two sites are complementary rather than
competitive and intend to continue running the
sites separately but maintain the existing close
co-operation.
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