I removed the Notts/Derbyshire sightings from the 10 latest posts as they were overrunning things slightly (thanks for the nudge Paul, something I'd been meaning to do for a while).

You can still find them in the menu at the top (they appear as a drop down under Local Patch sightings) and don't whisk you away to another site.

I'm also working on a new site to replace this one, something a bit more jazzy (I hope). It will give me more control over what I can do but is a little more complicated. All free software still. Whether we move over is something for you guys to decide once I have a prototype – it will have its advantages and disadvantages….Watch this space (be ages away yet, like the Newsletter that I never found time for and the Valley bird list that is still in my to do list)…

Chris

I've changed the Next/Previous Navigation on pages to stay within the same category. I hope this makes it simpler to navigate the site, as for, for example, the Photo Tutorials you will now just click next to go to the next in the series rather than the next chronological post in any category. 

Let me know if you preferred the old way.

Been busy with the site over the last two days:

• I've added "social networking" functionality – i.e. the big black bar at the top of the site. This allows users to send messages etc from within the site (send me a message if you want to try it out: Go to Compose and send a message to "admin")
• The other new feature is a profile – add your picture if you like and answer some questions in the profile page about your wildlife watching so we can learn more about you.
• I've also changed the home page – this gives an overview of the latest content

Lastly, I've moved my blog to this site. I hope it will drive more traffic to the site and also I didn't like the look of my old blog as it wasn't that nice.

Moreover YOU can have your own blog on this site – let me know and I can set you up with access so you can post your own boring ramblings (or maybe you'll be more interesting that me!). Believe me Blogging is interesting and a good way of recording and thinking about your wildlife watching in a different way.

Cheers for now

Chris

Hi,

I've added the facility to upload images to the Gallery page – I hope this will be useful and will save having to give everyone who wants to upload pictures too much access into the back-end of the website. Any images will go into the Latest Gallery once I have authorised them.

You may also notice the "Other" sightings pages – these are just sightings reported on other websites that I repeat on here for peoples benefit. They are unchecked, so don't blame me for any mistakes.

Chris

Hi,

New changes today:

• I had to add a new menu bar for "Categories" – this will allow us to show Latest News and Sightings seperately and allow future development to be easier.
• I have added Google AdSense Adverts – this will allow a small amout of revenue to be generated for the site and pay for hosting, etc. Any extra can be used to fill feeders at Bennerley and Erewash Meadows.

Please let me know using the forum if you think the adverts change your user experience, if they bother people I can remove them as I don't think they'll generate much cash,  pence probably, so the hassle isn't worth it.

Chris