Privacy Policy

Effective date: 15/06/2026

Birds & The Belles (“we”, “us”, “our”) is an all-female birdwatching and photography network that runs events, competitions, and activities for our members, participants and supporters.
We respect your privacy and are committed to protecting your personal information. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, why we collect it, how we use it, how it is protected, and your rights under UK data protection law, including the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Birds & The Belles is responsible for looking after your personal information.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or how we handle your personal data, please contact us:

Email: hello@birdsandthebelles.co.uk

Depending on how you interact with us, we may collect:

• Your name
• Email address
• Telephone number (if you choose to provide it)
• Social media username (where relevant to participation or promotion)
• Event booking details
• Competition entries and submitted photographs
• Dietary requirements, accessibility information or emergency contact details where needed for events
• Feedback, comments or messages you send to us
• Photographs or videos taken at Birds & The Belles events
  We only collect personal information that is necessary for the activities and services we provide.

We may collect personal information when you:

• Join our mailing list
• Register for an event
• Purchase tickets or make a booking
• Enter a competition
• Contact us through our website, email or social media channels
• Take part in networking activities
• Provide feedback
• Interact with our community

We may use your information to:

• Organise, manage and deliver events and activities
• Process event bookings and competition entries
• Communicate with you about events, opportunities and community updates
• Share relevant birdwatching, photography and networking information
• Improve our events and services
• Respond to enquiries
• Maintain records required for safety, administration, accounting or legal purposes
  We will only use your personal information where we have a lawful reason to do so.

Under UK GDPR, we rely on the following lawful bases:

• Consent – Where you choose to sign up for newsletters, marketing communications, competitions or optional activities.
• Contract or agreement – Where we need your information to provide an event, service or activity that you have requested.
• Legitimate interests – Where it is necessary for us to operate Birds & The Belles, manage our community, communicate with participants and improve our activities.
• Legal obligation – Where we are required to keep certain records or share information to comply with legal requirements.

Marketing and communications

If you choose to receive communications from us, we may send information about:

• Upcoming events
• Birdwatching opportunities
• Photography activities
• Community news
• Competitions
• Networking opportunities

Birds & The Belles may take photographs or videos at events to celebrate our community and promote our activities. Images may be shared through our website, newsletters, social media channels or other promotional materials.

Where possible, we will make attendees aware when photography or filming is taking place. If you do not wish to appear in photographs or videos, please let an organiser know.

If you have concerns about an image being shared, please contact us and we will consider your request.

If you enter a Birds & The Belles competition, we may collect:

• Your name
• Contact details
• Submitted photographs or creative work
• Information needed to administer and judge the competition

Competition entries may be displayed or shared for promotional purposes where appropriate. Specific competition rules will explain how entries may be used.

You are responsible for ensuring that you own the necessary rights and permissions for photographs or other materials you submit.

Where you purchase tickets for events, enter paid competitions or make payments to Birds & The Belles, payments are processed securely through third-party payment providers or payment gateways, such as Eventbrite, Square, or other trusted payment platforms we may use from time to time.

Birds & The Belles does not collect, store or have access to your full payment card details, such as your card number or security code.

Your payment information is collected and processed directly by the relevant third-party payment provider. These providers are responsible for protecting your payment details and processing your information in accordance with their own privacy policies, security standards and applicable data protection laws.

We may receive limited payment-related information from these providers, such as:

• Your name
• Email address
• Payment status
• Transaction reference
• Booking details

We may share personal information only when necessary, for example with:

• Event venues or partners where required to organise an activity
• Third-party service providers that help us operate Birds & The Belles, including event booking platforms, payment processors, email providers and administrative services
• Professional advisers where necessary
• Emergency services or relevant authorities where required for safety or legal reasons
  Any third parties processing information on our behalf are expected to handle your data securely and in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

We take reasonable steps to protect your personal information from:

• Loss
• Unauthorised access
• Misuse
• Accidental disclosure
  Access to personal information is limited to people who need it to operate Birds & The Belles.

We keep personal information only for as long as necessary for the purposes it was collected.

For example:

• Event booking information may be retained for administration, safety and financial record-keeping purposes
• Mailing list information is kept until you unsubscribe
• Competition information is kept for as long as needed to administer the competition and maintain relevant records
  When information is no longer required, we will securely delete or anonymise it.

Your rights

Under UK GDPR, you have rights including:

• The right to be informed
• To understand how we use your personal information.
• The right of access
• To request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• The right to correction
• To ask us to correct inaccurate or incomplete information.
• The right to deletion
• To request that we delete your information in certain circumstances.
• The right to restrict processing
• To ask us to limit how we use your information in certain situations.
• The right to object
• To object to certain uses of your personal information.
• The right to withdraw consent
• Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided above.

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal information, please contact us first so that we can try to resolve the issue.

You also have the right to make a complaint to the UK’s data protection regulator: Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO)

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our activities, services or legal requirements.
The latest version will always be made available through our website or other appropriate communication channels.