The Gloster Birder – a brief history

The Gloster Birder first started bringing news to the masses on Monday 14th August 2000 so is now 23 years old. It just started as a bit of fun when I changed my internet provider to blueyonder, and they mentioned that everyone could have a free website. I thought it would be a good idea to try and bring together some news and reports for Gloucestershire, so I put together a few pages. I called it The Gloster Birder because I wanted a unique name, so I picked the old spelling of Gloster, which was also the nickname of my Dad when he was in the forces. The sightings were mainly my own and bits I picked up off the pager; it’s funny how things have now gone full circle and the pagers now pick up their news from me. After a few months the hit counter started to move, and my inbox started to receive bird news. The very first sightings pages were very basic with no details, no pictures and no observer names.

Then on February 24th 2001, Andy Chapman sent in the first third party record, bringing to the world news of Jack Snipe in Quedgeley. Gordon Hodgson provided the first sightings photograph on October 7th 2001 of the very popular Ring-billed Gull at Michael Wood Services. From then on things just got more and more hectic with emails and photos arriving in my inbox daily.

The website has gone from strength to strength over the years and is now moving towards 4 million visitors from all around the world.

Initial scepticism of what I was trying to do has long since gone and most of the feedback I get is positive. I have always tried to help everybody to see any good birds in Gloucestershire with advice regarding access, parking and on-site instructions and hopefully this has benefited all parties concerned. In recent times with the rise of photography especially, I’ve had to be more discerning with what is published. The welfare of the birds needs to come first, and I hope I’ve always done that. However, with very popular birds, like owls for instance, rare birds in private gardens, or when site access is difficult or parking impossible then I’ve left them off site usually with agreement with Richard Baatsen, the County Recorder. We will still try to get as many people as possible to see good birds but it’s easier to manage “in house” than going public. Generally, behaviour at County twitches is exemplary and everybody knows of the boundaries expected. However, Twitter (X) and Social Media often means birds are straight out into the public domain with no regard to whether it’s a good idea or not, but that’s just how things are now.

I am quite proud of what has been achieved by the site over the years in that the whole County birding community is probably tighter knit than it has ever been, where most of the locals now know each other and sometimes even speak, and friendships have been forged. Also, as Richard will testify records have hit new highs as a result of having the site to pull them together.

The website has been Birdwatch website of the month and was also voted into the Top 50 BBC Countryfile Best British Wildlife websites. A certain amount of notoriety has come with it of course because now everybody knows me, so I must think twice before I hop a fence or burrow through a hedge.

There has certainly been a change in the County’s avifauna over the last 23 years. It’s pleasing to report that Red Kites seem to be County-wide, and Bitterns are booming, if you’ll excuse the pun. All three egret species are doing well, and Spoonbills and Marsh Harriers turn up annually in good numbers. On the downside Turtle Dove, Tree Sparrow, Willow Tit and Lesser Spotted Woodpecker are all on the brink in the County, with the first three probably extinct and the latter hanging on in only very small numbers in the Forest of Dean. Sadly, there has also been a decline in White-fronted Geese and Bewick’s Swans are present in much reduced numbers.

I guess the site has been a labour of love over the years and has certainly taken hours of my time most evenings. I’ve never managed to gain financial support for the site, and people still write to me interested in coming to talk to the team about the “business”. It’s just me, honest! I’ve turned down countless invites to radio programmes and some TV, including bizarrely a reality show that was to be set at a hotel in Kent! I do have a face for radio, but not the voice. I heard myself once on Radio Gloucester being interviewed about the 1996 Franklin’s Gull and vowed I wouldn’t repeat the experience.

I would like to thank everyone that has sent in records and photos, and I hope I have always responded to you all, which I always try to do, and will keep the website going for the foreseeable future.

Mike King, The Gloster Birder https://theglosterbirder.co.uk/ 26/11/2023.