1. Choose a method

Choose whether you would like to carry out structured surveys or casual recording. Both methods will give us valuable information about greenspaces. 

Take a look at the table below for more information about each of the methods, and choose which option you prefer:

	Structured Survey	Casual recording
Experience	Able to ID common birds	No experience necessary!
Amount of time	2 or 3 visits of around 1 hour	No minimum time required!
Time of day	Early to mid-morning	Any time of day!
Binoculars?	Recommended	No binoculars necessary!
Weather conditions	Avoid heavy wind or rain or other unsuitable weather conditions	Avoid heavy wind or rain or other unsuitable weather conditions
How to record your observations	Smartphone with the BirdTrack app OR pen and paper	Smartphone with the BirdTrack app OR pen and paper

2. Choose a greenspace

You can choose any greenspace in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland to watch and record birds. 

Greenspaces are public-access areas of land found in and around built-up areas, in cities, towns and villages. Birds in Greenspaces aims to cover a wide range of greenspace types. For the pilot, we are including:

• Public parks and gardens
• Playing fields
• Religious grounds and cemeteries
• Other public open spaces

3. Sign up

Once you have chosen your method and your greenspace, fill in our short form to join the project.

All you need is an email address, and the type of recording (casual or structured) that you want to carry out - then you'll be ready to start!

4. Share your greenspace with us

To help us identify peaks and gaps in coverage before the main Greenspaces survey in 2026, we are collecting specific information from surveys in several target cities: Cambridge, Derry-Londonderry, Glasgow, Hull, Newport (Wales) and Thetford.

If you have signed up to the project and are planning to carry out one or more structured Birds in Greenspaces surveys in a target city, please let us know with our Target City Site Selector. 

• You do not need to share your greenspace with us if you are not going to be recording in a target city.
• Volunteers who will be carrying out casual recording only do not need to share their greenspace with us, even if it is in a target city.

5. Record your observations

You can make a note of the birds you see using pen and paper, our printable recording form, or the BirdTrack app.

You also need to make a note of details such as the location, date and time. Make sure you read the instructions for your method to ensure you have all the required information:

• Casual recording instructions
• Structured survey instructions

More information and resources are available on our dedicated Resources page.

6. Send us your findings

If you record your observations using the BirdTrack mobile app, you don't need to do anything further at this stage! 

If you recorded your observations using pen and paper or our printable recording form, you will need to add your sightings to the BirdTrack app after your survey or recording period. 

Alternatively, you can post printable recording forms to Birds in Greenspaces, British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford,  IP24 2PU.

7. Feedback

Collecting feedback is a key element of the pilot work, and will ensure the project is as successful as possible and runs as smoothly as possible in 2026. 

Through pilot feedback, we hope to refine our site list and maps to ensure we include as many public access greenspaces as we can. This will allow as many people as possible to engage with nature in a space near them and collect data that can provide a picture of the network of greenspaces at a local level and beyond.

Feedback forms will be available from May 2025, here on the Birds in Greenspaces Pilot 2025 webpage.