Site of the Week
Birds in a Cheshire Garden http://www.abcissa.force9.co.uk/birds/
This excellent site is basically a huge record of the wildlife to be found in Phil Barnett’s back garden. Inspired by illness to take up birdwatching, he quickly noticed the wide variety of bird species to be seen, ‘even from a fairly ordinary suburban garden’. Add a computer and a book on HTML programming, and hey presto: a site packed with more birds and bird behaviour than you can shake a pair of binoculars at.
As well as being able to read about Phil’s spottings - which include rare bird visitations, quirky feeding techniques and even daylight kleptoparasitism - you can take part in his bird survey (proudly advertised as the world’s sixteenth largest), test your twitching skills with the pleasingly challenging quizzes, and add your own bird sightings to the site’s forum. The photos section contains some great amateur pictures, including a stunning shot of a robin landing on a friendly human hand, and a couple of beautiful close-ups of treecreepers.
The only thing you won’t find is background reading on the specific species listed - but no problem: if you need more in the way of bird natural history info, just head for the links section, which has a collection of sites for your surfing pleasure. Backgarden birders of the world unite! We have nothing to lose but our peanuts!
Richard Northover
Info-content ** Readability ** Appearance ** User friendliness ** Kids ** Plug-ins none