Southend Ornithological Group

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.