Sensitive records - breeding birds

Hi, new site user here. Birds are my primary interest / area of knowledge. I note that any records marked "sensitive" have exact locations blurred and appear as a 1km square. This is still way too precise for rare breeding bird species that may be subject to disturbance or even egg collectors (still , in 2025) . However I don't wish to simply not submit a particular record, given that it is in an area under threat from housing development. I suggest a category for reporting sightings that are only be visible to the recorder , the verifiers/iRecord admin, and (on request) planning authorities.

Edit added 23 June - Adding my thank you to James here as can't get past captcha to add additional comment .

Comments

You can change the blur resolution

Hi Steve.

Just to say that if you have a sensitive record, once you tick the check box it gives you the option of how blurry you want the resolution, and includes 10km and even 100km options, so the resolution is at the discretion of the observer.

I wouldn't want to discourage you from using iRecord, I am a big supporter of it, however if your main interest is with birds and you are just starting, it would be worth checking with your local county recorder or local records centre to see if they currently verify and use the records added to iRecord, as in some counties they primarily use BirdTrack or eBird and this would be important if you are regularly recording from an area at risk of development.

Thanks

Thanks James, will try adjusting the blurring. The group objecting to the housing development are relying on iRecord to build up a broader biodiversity picture, and I wouldn't want birds to be underrepresented in that . But I agree that BTO/County Recorders seem to rely more on read across from BirdTrack and eBird.