Bird records for Argyll for the years 2002 and 2003.

Method steps

1. Data were not collected systematically. Records came from multiple observers and in many original formats. Some observers are householders submitting bird records from their gardens; others are birdwatchers on holiday in Argyll; others are professional ornithologists. All records are examined and validated by the Argyll Bird Recorder.

Nearly all records are from the biological recording area of Argyll, which is almost identical with the administrative boundary of Argyll and Bute with the exclusion of the island of Bute. The distribution of records is heavily affected by the distribution of observers. It must be stressed that there is no systematic geographic coverage in this dataset. Between one half and one third of 1km squares in the land area of Argyll have no bird records at all. Remote upland areas away from the coast are very poorly recorded. The spatial resolution of most records is 1km. (Four-figure grid reference). Notes appended to individual records may often be used to infer more precise locations. A few records are provided to 100m accuracy (six-figure grid reference). A significant minority of records are from wider geographic areas (such as whole islands) or from ferry routes. These are identified by the SpatialReferenceQualifier field with the value 'Location Centroid'.