Wildlife blogs: a gradual demise?

When I first began my 'Birds of the Heath' online diary, my reasons were quite straight forward: it was a convenient place to store (and share) my photos and observations and, I hoped, would be a conduit for information and help to me. Whenever I travel anywhere around the UK, I always check local blogs to see what's going on.

One of the first features I added was a page of links to other blogs that I found enjoyable and/or educational. Ten years later I've been forced to delete ten or more broken links - blogs that are no longer maintained or that have been dormant for many months. (I've kept a few such links to blogs that notwithstanding remain worth a look!)

I find this very sad. I have the feeling that there might be three main reasons for the decline in blogging:

1)  Laziness! It does require a certain self-discipline to find time on a regular basis to sort out photos and write a bit of text: not everyone can be bothered, especially if their efforts are not rewarded by a decent daily visit count, or positive comments.

2)  Twitter / 'X'   Despite often being a somewhat toxic environment, Twitter has the advantage of immediacy: new bird finds are often posted within minutes, complete with b-o-c images and directions. However, text is limited as are the number (and quality) of photos and videos.

3)  Lack of visitors   As the number of blogs with reciprocal links drops, so does the number of visitors they generated. I have frequently invited other blogs to exchange links and had no reply: this is not the case on Facebook, where my photos are often reposted elsewhere.

I note that even some of the most popular blogs and websites (such as Penny Clarke's, Birdforum and Surfbirds) are showing a similar reduction in daily 'hits': the Norfolk pages on Birdforum, for example, haven't had a new post for months.

I kind of hope that the present dissatisfaction with 'X' might spark a resurgence in blogging: I really believe they are a valuable, historical resource.