The usefulness of grid references

Raptor sighting distribution - Dec 2014 to April 2015
Raptor sighting distribution – Dec 2014 to April 2015

This map gives an impression of where you are reporting seeing various species of raptor to GRMG via our online submission form. Click on the map for a large view. It doesn’t represent a complete picture of raptor distribution, but merely where people are seeing them and choosing to report them to us. There is further recording going on in the county outside of GRMG, but all sources are collated to give a clearer picture. What this map does show however, is that GRMG has already established a presence in all corners of the county. More usefully, we can produce similar maps at a higher resolution, for specific species to identify hotspots and ‘notspots’, or to compare year by year records to notice trends in frequency or distribution of records over time.
This kind of analysis is only possible thanks to the grid references that you provide with your records. Over 70% of all the records we’ve received to date contain grid references, which is great. Finding the grid references for your sightings is made really easy with this site – simply click on the map and you’re given the grid reference. Many thanks to everyone for their on-going efforts in reporting their sightings to GRMG.