Public
Support
For any charity to succeed support from the public is essential and the
work of 
is no exception. Effort to secure public awareness of and support for
our research has been successful in several areas.
- Records of sightings. In addition to the core research of
the staff of the charity records from members of the public are welcomed
as they help to build a comprehensive picture of the distribution
of different birds species around the Island. Public response to an
appeal for records has been tremendous with over 120 individuals regularly
submitting records from around the Island. The Recording
Form - Online page of this site allows you to submit records of
your Manx bird sightings direct to us.
- Garden BirdWatch 2000. Building upon the above support the
charity decided to run a scheme that encouraged the public to record
the birds that came into their gardens for a 13 week period covering
the dawn of the new millennium. An overwhelming 510 households have
agreed to take part. Out of a population of approximately 74,000 this
compares very favourably with the 11,000 participating in a similar
scheme being run in Britain and Ireland. This scheme is proving so
popular that it is likely that it will be continued in future years
and extended to cover the full year rather than just the winter.
- Financial support. Members of the public have been offered
an opportunity to ‘sponsor a species’ of their choice at £20 per annum
over the five-year life of the research. Over 290 sponsorship agreements
of this nature have been secured.
- The land owning community. A consequence of undertaking very
detailed research over the whole Island has been the need to secure
access to land in private ownership. Over 420 landowners were visited,
most from the farming community, to seek permission to access their
land. Less than ten declined to allow permission. The vast majority
have not only given permission but have also expressed a keen interest
in and support for our work.
