Two millionth sighting for BirdGuides

Last month we posted our two millionth sighting on the BirdGuides news service – and we're giving away a free membership to Ultimate PLUS to celebrate.

The report in question came on 1 February and was of two continuing Eurasian Spoonbills at Steart WWT in Somerset. Eurasian Spoonbill has increased significantly across Britain in recent years, with 2023 becoming another record year for the North Norfolk breeding population – where 90 fledged from 46 nests. The species has been reported over 44,000 times since BirdGuides record-keeping began in 2000 – nearly a third of these since the start of 2020 alone.

In 2014, we celebrated our millionth report, which was a Black Tern in London.

BirdGuides is Britain's leading website for birders, with live sightings, breaking news and trusted content. Reporting more sightings of a wider range of species than any other provider, both 2022 and 2023 saw BirdGuides reach an annual total of 130,000 reports for the very first time – an average of approximately 2,500 sightings every single week. Subscribers exclusively enjoy by-the-minute sightings updates and unrivalled accuracy, with reports featuring dropped pins for the latest location of the bird as well as parking and access instructions.

To celebrate the two million milestone, BirdGuides is running a competition this week and over the Easter weekend. The prize is one-year free membership to BirdGuides Ultimate PLUS. Launched earlier this month, Ultimate PLUS provides even more benefits to keen and experienced birders and provides far more than any other service can. This new membership tier enables members to:

• Receive access to an eco-friendly digital issue of Birdwatch every month;
• Free digital access to EVERY issue of Birdwatch since issue one (over 380 issues!). This resource tool is instant and fully searchable;
• Free digital access to our extensive library of special editions;
• PLUS, every member receives all other Ultimate services including all notifications, immediate bird news on all devices, full access to the BirdGuides app and 100 free SMS messages.

To enter, you simply need to answer the rarity-related question on the following link BirdGuides free Ultimate PLUS competition. The deadline to enter is 5 pm on Tuesday 9 April. The winner will be announced by Friday 12 April.

New customers have the opportunity to sample the app through a month-long free trial. If you are a returning customer thinking about rejoining BirdGuides, please email us at contact@birdguides.com if you would like to trial the app.