Wildlife Online (the “Site”) is a personal hobby website that aims to provide educational information about British wildlife. This site is created and operated by Marc Baldwin (the “Owner”), a private individual with an interest in the subject matter - it is privately funded, does not employ advertising and has no professional or commercial elements or interests. Wildlife Online is hosted in the UK.
There is no requirement to log into this site to access any of the content, and it is not possible to enter personal information into the site, other than a name and e-mail address when using the optional contact form.
Cookies
Like most websites, when you (the “Visitor”) access Wildlife Online some tracking information is saved into a log file called a “cookie” on the web server and local device. Local cookies can be “Persistent” or “Session” based. Persistent cookies remain on the Visitor's device even when away from the Site or offline. Session cookies are deleted as soon as the Visitor closes their web browser. You may configure your browser to block all cookies and this should not interfere with your access/use of the Site.
Cookies contain information including, but not limited to, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, system configuration information, URLs of referring pages, and locale and language preferences. This tracking information is automatically processed by Google Search Console and AWStats to provide the metrics. In a nutshell, the tracking information contained within the cookies allows the Owner a high-level overview of which countries visitors are coming from, which search criteria/engine brought them here, what content they're accessing, how long they spend on the site, and the technology they access the site via (e.g. which web browser they're using and if they're using a mobile device or a laptop/desktop). The information contained within the cookies can also be employed for website troubleshooting.
It is important to recognise that the cookie tracking metrics available via Google's Search Console and AWStats do not personally identify the Visitor to the Owner. An IP address is logged under most circumstances, and some information can be obtained using this via online tools such as WhatIsMyIPAddress, revealing the Visitor's Internet Service Provider (ISP) and where in the world their servers are based. Technically, the ISP can identify a specific user based on their IP address, but the Owner has no legal means of requesting this information from the Visitor's service provider. Similarly, as no unique credentials are required to access the Site's content, the Owner has no means by which to obtain sufficient additional data to connect the IP address with the individual Visitor accessing the website.
Use of personal data
The tracking information gathered using analytics cookies is used to provide the Owner with an overview of site usage as described above, and by the web server owner for troubleshooting in the event of a fault/issue. If a Visitor contacts the Owner using the site's Contact Form, or directly via e-mail, the Visitor's name, e-mail address and the content of the message, along with subsequent responses, are retained within the Owner's mail host's servers. Often, mail clients such as Outlook automatically add e-mail addresses of frequent contacts to the address book. Under certain circumstances, the Visitor's name and/or email content (or subsection thereof) may be published within the body content of Wildlife Online, but this will only be with the express written consent of the Visitor and agrees with them ahead of publication.
No mailing list exists for Wildlife Online, so when a Visitor contacts the Owner their e-mail address exists only within the mail service for the purpose of communication related to the subject matter at hand; neither the e-mail content nor the Visitor's name or address is ever passed to third parties without the Visitor's express, written permission. Circular or other promotional information is never e-mailed to Visitors.
Deletion of data
Visitors who contact the Owner via e-mail or the Contact Form on the site are entitled to have their previous e-mails removed from the Owner's inbox/server and deleted from the mail client's address book if applicable. Visitors also have the right to know what information has been retained about them and, where Visitors have provided information that has been included within the Site's content, the Visitor has the right to have any personally identifiable information (e.g. their name) removed from the article at any time. Requests for details of any information retained by the Owner, or to have personally identifiable information removed from the Site, can be directed to the Owner.