Spotter Sheets

I have been thinking about expanding the range of birdwatching resources, and was talking to a friend who has the most glorious farmhouse B&B, surrounded by countryside and wildlife. The house has many nesting birds, and swallows sit on the telegraph line above their pergola in the summer. It’s all rather fabulous, but a logbook is not appropriate as although they have guests, it would not be cost effective to produce one for them.

I decided to have a play around with some ideas, and created an A4 ‘spotter sheet’ using a quick sketchy painting of Starnash Farmhouse as the background. I know the birds I’ve seen there from my visits over the past 4 years, so that was easy enough. They are really adaptable as if necessary I can use the fonts/colours/logo/info of the particular establishment; Vicky was happy for me to go with the standard logbook combo of Baskerville and Avenir Next, and I can use an image to make a background that best represents the area or venue.

I have left off the tick circles but they would be easy enough to add if a printed sheet was required for an event or such like. These sheets can be laminated; popped in a frame (the A4 format makes that simple enough); or left in guest rooms or communal areas.

They can be purchased as a PDF for endless copies, and altered for summer or winter, easy or more difficult birds. While they don’t take the place of the logbook, they would be suitable for places that simply don’t have the footfall or retail opportunities but nonetheless want to highlight the birds they have, so visitors can look out for them.

What do you think?