News archive

Sunday, 3 February 2008

Big Garden Birdwatch, Big News..

The Group were delighted to be asked by our local papers, the Express & Star and The Wolverhampton Chronicle, to contribute material relating to Big Garden Birdwatch. After telephone discussions with their newsdesks it was decided that they would send out a photographer to capture a few shots of the event. With this type of coverage it is important that it appeals to as wide an audience as possible and newspapers always want to show children involved in activities. To accomplish this it was agreed that our Treasurer Alan Evans would host a photo shoot along with his daughters and also be interviewed for an article. On the Saturday morning of BGB a photographer duly turned up and took several pictures. Later that day Alan was telephoned by the Editor and interviewed at length. Alan was able to give a great account of the Group, the RSPB and Sandwell Valley reserve, who were, in turn, also interviewed by the papers. Imagine our delight when in the Monday evening edition a photograph and write-up appeared occupying half of the Editorial page directly opposite the Letters columns. A high profile indeed. Later in the week another photograph was used in the free Wolverhampton Chronicle with a smaller and slightly different write-up. We look forward now to doing a follow-up with results of BGB and comments on local birding issues.

We strongly recommend local Groups to make friends with the Newsdesk of their local paper, as this can lead to excellent coverage and may help to boost recruitment.