AditSite Testimonials

The Program

‘Aditsite was available when I needed it, and it is easy to use’

‘I am still very satisfied with the program. It only seems to get better’

‘I did receive well the complete CD. I have been working with the program the last week and I like it. Sometimes I could not find things but with some persistence I found most things and everything is straightforward. With other words it's a good database’

‘One aspect I strongly believe in, with any software, is that it must be able to do all that I require from it, if it can't then it is no good to me’

'Firstly, great bit of software. I am not the brightest spark on the block when using new software so, after a few tentative looks I decided to take a deep breath and get stuck in. I must say I really like it. Very versatile and quick to use. Last night I even managed to link a photo of a gall to a name in the species list!'

Adit Support

‘Many thanks for your help and patience’

‘Many thanks again for a great service’

‘I am most grateful for your help – and a good start’

‘Many thanks for the considerable effort that you have put in to keeping me on the correct path with Adit’

Thanks so much!
I received the CD and it loaded up just fine. Hope it didn't take you too long, it would have been hours of typing in data for me.
I'll talk to the powers that be about AditPlan

Very many thanks for returning my database. Now installed and working well.

Upgrades

‘Thank-you for the Aditsite update. There are some very useful improvements’

Of course, you can’t teach an old dog

Then again

’Just a query to ask on whether there is an update for my version of Aditsite.
I bought mine back in 1994 and it is the 2.1 version. I have used it successfully over the years and have thousands of sightings on it and it has never caused me any problems. it has some limitations which the newer ones probably have not. providing reports etc. does have limitations at present.
what would be the cost of an upgrade and would all information be able to be transferred easily?’

And maybe you can’t please everyone

Something More Formal From the Conservators of Ashdown Forest

4. Aditsite: what it is, what it does, and how it can contribute to Forest management

In the first formal presentation to the Committee about this important software and its use, Dave King started by giving the background to bird recording on the Forest by the Ashdown Forest Bird Group. This was set up in 1989 and has ca. 20-25 recorders each covering a particular part of the Forest. The number of bird records/year climbed from 1500-2000 in 1991 to 3000 in 1995 and 4600 in 2002. Aditsite now has 36,500 records.

In 1998 Aditsite was selected for use in preference to another software package, Recorder, because a) it was easy to use; b) it could display data in various formats; c) it was excellent in importing and exporting data (e.g. to GIS packages); and d) its developers (a company in Anglesey) were willing to add ca. 15,000 of the Forest’s bird records themselves at the time. It has interlocking mapping, identification and wildlife recording facilities, and will soon have a management plan component too. Species lists of many groups of organisms, not just birds, come loaded on the programme.

Because Aditsite is a site-based programme, the Forest has been sub-divided for recording purposes into some 50 sections, each of which can be sub-divided in turn to highlight particular spots such as a pond. Dave showed how data are added, how they can be displayed in e.g. map, graph and table form, and how important it is to understand the methods of data collection and the attendant danger of recording bias (e.g. reflecting human behaviour rather than avian biology). One graph, for example, clearly showed how the overall numbers of records peak from April to June, but then show a big drop off even though the number of July records should be much higher due to the appearance of young birds. In July bird watchers are simply likely to be away.

Dave also showed plots of the increase in records on the Forest of one of its flagship species, the Dartford Warbler. In 1989, when just one pair bred, few people knew about it and the number of records was low; in 1990 most of the Bird Group went to see it (still the only pair) and the number of records was much higher. A peak of records in 1994 reflected not only an increase to 28 pairs, but also the increased effort in recording effort stimulated by a nationwide survey of the Dartford Warbler. Numbers of pairs increased to 75 pairs in 2000 and although, the number of records has not kept pace pro rata, a regression curve nonetheless shows a good fit between increasing records and an increase in the number of pairs. The use of Aditsite neatly shows how the Dartford Warbler has colonised the Forest since its establishment in 1989, and how the species appears to prefer high elevation sites with a great view!

The distribution of Skylark records shows a close visual correlation with the bracken scrapes and mowing. Dave also showed with Aditsite how the distribution of the Silver-Studied Blue (another flagship species) coincides closely with the presence of rides outside the grazing area (but less so inside the grazing area). Any proposed management of rides can therefore be checked against the butterfly’s distribution shown on Aditsite.

One group of data not yet on Aditsite are those from the standardised surveys done by Dave in the Millbrook grazing area. These will be added in time. Each survey will take ca. 30 mins to enter. Philip Glyn made the point that, however good a statistical package, the quality of data is still the critical point. In answer to his question about the overall direction of the use of Aditsite on the Forest, Dave answered that the programme’s exporting facility will allow a dovetailing with the GIS-based vegetation coverage run by Chris Marrable.

Dave pointed out that Forest bird records go to the Sussex Ornithological Society, butterfly records to Butterfly Conservation, and dragonfly records to the British Dragonfly Society. All records end up at the Sussex Biological Records Centre. Alex Tait confirmed the need for both general recording and for standardised survey work.

Dave was thanked for his excellent presentation.