The recording area consists of the whole of the Burnley, Hyndburn, Pendle and Ribble Valley Districts and Blackburn with Darwen except for the southern end (Turton / Entwistle area). Perhaps the simplest guide to the club's recording area is that its perimeter follows watersheds except where it cuts across the River Ribble. The area thus includes the catchments of the Ribble and its tributaries from Alston and Balderstone in the SW up to the North Yorkshire boundary between Paythorne and Hellifield in the N, plus the Darwen catchment above Samlesbury Bottoms.
In order to provide a comprehensive service for local and visiting birders, records are also welcome from anywhere in 'Greater' East Lancashire, i.e. the recording area plus all parts of Lancashire east of the Bowland watershed and then from south of the River Brock, east of the M6 and M61. The area thus includes Rossendale, those southern parts of Blackburn with Darwen in the Irwell catchment, and parts of the Preston, South Ribble and Chorley Districts. Any records received from these additional areas are passed to the appropriate recorders.
Most of the recording area can be found on Ordnance Survey Landranger
Map 103 (Blackburn and Burnley). Other maps needed are:-
Sheet 98 (Wensleydale and Upper Wharfedale) - northern edge of the Ribble Valley District.
Sheet 102 (Preston and Blackpool) - western portion of the Ribble Valley District
and eastern portions of the Preston and South Ribble Districts.
Sheet 109 (Manchester) - southern portions of Blackburn with Darwen and Rossendale
Districts and eastern portion of the Chorley District.
Click here for a list of 1 km squares within the recording area and for a list of sites within each 10km square that are listed in the club's gazetteer