Privacy notice

Who is responsible for your information?

Ground Feeders is run personally by Dean G in the United Kingdom. Dean G is responsible for deciding how personal information collected through Ground Feeders is used.

For privacy questions, requests about your personal information or privacy complaints, please use our contact form. Choose “General question” and mention “Privacy” in your message. Please include enough detail to help us understand your request, but do not send identity documents or sensitive information unless specifically requested.

Information we use

• Contact enquiries: your name, email address, selected topic, message, submission time and whether the enquiry has been resolved. The form also records a receipt identifier to prevent duplicate submissions.
• Website and security information: technical details needed to deliver and protect the website, which can include your IP address, requested page, browser information and time of access in server or service-provider logs.
• Spam-prevention records: contact attempts are counted using a keyed hash derived from the connecting address. This is not stored as a plain IP address in the contact message, but it is still treated as security information.
• Optional Google Analytics: if you allow analytics, Google receives page and interaction information, such as pages viewed, clicks on PDF downloads, approximate location, device and browser details, and analytics identifiers stored in your browser. We do not send your contact form message to Analytics.

You choose whether to contact us. The form requires a name, valid email address, topic and message; without them it cannot accept an enquiry. Please avoid including unnecessary personal information about yourself or anyone else.

Why we use information

We use enquiry details to read and respond to messages, consider story ideas and investigate corrections. We use technical information to operate the site, investigate faults and prevent spam or abuse. We also count requests for each PDF guide by filename and day to see which downloads are useful. The download count does not store a visitor identifier, IP address, browser details or cookies.

If you allow Google Analytics, we use its reports to understand which pages and guides visitors use and improve the site. Lawful basis for optional analytics: your consent. You can withdraw it using Cookie settings in the footer. Declining analytics does not limit access to the site.

Lawful basis for enquiries, security and the separate PDF request count: legitimate interests in answering enquiries, understanding use of our PDF guides, maintaining a reliable wildlife journal and protecting the website. We limit the details requested, restrict inbox access and do not use enquiry information for marketing. Information required for a specific legal obligation would be handled on that basis where applicable.

The contact form does not subscribe you to marketing. Newsletter signup is not currently open. We do not use enquiry details for advertising profiles, and the site does not make automated decisions with legal or similarly significant effects. Automated security checks can reject a suspected spam submission.

Service providers and sharing

Hosting: our website and private contact inbox run on an OVHcloud server. Authorised administration access is restricted; messages are not included in public article pages.

Cloudflare Turnstile: our contact form uses Cloudflare’s security check. Cloudflare processes technical signals such as IP address and browser information to distinguish visitors from bots. It acts on our behalf to protect the website and also uses signals as a controller to improve its bot detection. See Cloudflare’s Turnstile privacy information.

Google Analytics: if you allow analytics, Google's Analytics service processes the visit and interaction information described above. See how Google Analytics handles data and Google's privacy policy.

Email replies: we use Google/Gmail to send and store replies to enquiries. This involves processing your email address and the contents of our correspondence. Please send new enquiries through our contact form.

Information may also need to be disclosed where the law requires it or where necessary to deal with a legal claim. Links to outside websites take you to services with their own privacy notices.

Where information is processed

Our providers may process information outside the UK. Cloudflare and Google may process data in the United States. Their published arrangements include the UK Extension to the EU–US Data Privacy Framework and contractual safeguards where applicable. OVHcloud’s published data-processing terms include UK transfer safeguards for its services. We do not assume that all information stays in the UK. You can read Cloudflare’s data-processing terms, Google’s transfer information and OVHcloud’s contract documents.

Cookies and similar technology

The contact form uses a security cookie to protect submissions and can use a session cookie to display its confirmation message. The private administration area also uses session cookies for sign-in. These serve site functionality and security rather than advertising.

Cloudflare Turnstile runs a browser-based security check when the contact form is available. Its use of technical signals is described in the provider notice above. Cloudflare may also use security cookies as part of its Turnstile check. See the provider information linked above for details.

Google Analytics is optional. Its tag does not load until you allow analytics; if allowed, it can set first-party analytics cookies, including names beginning _ga, to recognise visits and measure use of the site. We do not use Google Analytics for advertising. If you withdraw permission, we stop loading the tag on later pages and clear accessible analytics cookies for this site.

You can separately choose whether we remember the last wildlife image shown on the homepage. If allowed, it is stored in your browser tab until the tab closes. We save your choices in your browser for six months so the bar does not reappear on every page. Use “Cookie settings” in the footer to change them. Essential security and sign-in storage cannot be turned off through the bar; blocking it in your browser may prevent form submissions or sign-in from working.

How long we keep information

We review enquiries and delete them when they are no longer needed. Resolved enquiries are kept for up to 12 months after resolution, unless a specific legal obligation or ongoing dispute requires longer. Marking a message resolved does not delete it automatically. Replies sent through Gmail are stored separately and reviewed for deletion as part of the same process.

Google Analytics is set to retain user and event data associated with identifiers for two months, without resetting the user period on new activity. Google says this setting does not affect most aggregated standard reports. Your local choice record is kept for up to six months.

Spam-prevention counters are marked to expire after two days. Server logs rotate separately. Deleted messages may remain in backup copies until those copies are replaced or deleted.

Your privacy rights

Where UK data protection law applies, you can ask to access your personal information, correct inaccurate information, or request deletion or restricted use. The availability of each right depends on the circumstances. Data portability applies to certain information processed automatically on consent or contract grounds.

If processing relies on consent, you can withdraw that consent without affecting earlier lawful processing. We may need proportionate information to verify your identity before handling a request.

To exercise your rights or raise a privacy complaint, use our contact form and mention “Privacy” in your message. You can also complain to the Information Commissioner’s Office, the UK data protection regulator. Its helpline is 0303 123 1113.

Changes to this notice

We will update this notice when the site’s services or information-handling arrangements change. The published version will show its update date.