Hi all,
new to this app / site and trying to get a load of neighbours recording species to object to an imminent planning application.
I've entered 'a casual record' but I have a sound recording in Merlin, not photos... it's of a cuckoo.
Can anyone advise otherwise I guess it's not a verified sighting?
Thx!
Karen
Hi Karen.
Unfortunately the short answer is that currently sound files are only available for bat sightings via a specific form. Something you could do is screenshot the sonogram that Merlin produces, which if the verifier was in doubt could be used (e.g. by matching it to the sounds database on Xeno Canto). Whilst you are absolutely right in trying to evidence the observations to help the verifiers, hopefully a sighting like this would be accepted as considered correct if it was in an area of the country where Cuckoos are known to occur.
However, I note that you say that a planning application is imminent. In that case, I would strongly suggest sending your records direct to the local environmental records centre. It is likely to be a requirement that the ecologist doing the bacground survey consults with the records centre for data, whereas they might not pickup on records put on iRecord, especially if they are not verified straight away (often verifiers for big groups wait until the winter to verify the records because they can do a batch, i.e. group all of one species together) and for some areas bird records might not be verified at all as the county recorder might use a different system.