Since 1991 Rare Bird Alert has been the UK's premier birdnews information service. Our flexible news service suits all kinds of birders, from those who twitch rarities, or just want to see as much as possible, to birders who only get into the field occasionally in their spare time. Armed with all the most up-to-the-minute information available, everyone will see more with Rare Bird Alert.

Existing RBA subscribers
RBA pager subscribers - part-exchange your old pager for the X3 today - Upgrade here
RBA website and SMS subscribers - you can upgrade online below and any credit you have on your account will be added to you new pager subscription.

Birdnet pager customers
Changeover to RBA today and get the great deal below plus a FREE X3 pager - details here

New Subscribers
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Why choose Rare Bird Alert?

Since 1991 we have been transmitting birdnews to birders in the field, 15 hours per day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Sending in excess of 80,000 messages every year to every kind of birder, our aim is to help you hear about and hopefully get to see some of the best birds to occur in Britain. 

Our birdnews operatives, who are themselves active and experienced birders, gather birdnews from a whole host of sources including birders in the field, websites, blogs and email groups. RBA are the only birdnews information company to call all the premium rate regional Birdlines regularly throughout the day, gathering birdnews from them that nobody else does. This comprehensive approach means you can be confident you are hearing about all the birdnews all of the time. We transmit birdnews as soon as we receive it and our customers receive it on their pagers less than 1 minute later, meaning they are always right up to date with the very latest news.

Why choose a pager for your birdnews?

Pagers are a highly efficient way to receive birdnews in the field. They work in almost every corner of the country, unlike mobile phones which have plenty of black holes especially in popular birding areas. Don’t get stuck without the news precisely when you need it the most.  Compared to all other services currently available such as text messaging, they are, message for message, the most cost effective way to be alerted to the most up-to-the-minute news.

We offer a whole range of different pager services to suit all kinds of birders, from those who just like to bird locally at the weekends or in their spare time to ardent twitchers.

With services starting from 40p per day for unlimited local news, pagers are far more cost effective than text messaging services, as you pay a fixed price for your birdnews no matter how much news we send you.  You do not need to constantly tell the system what news you want and don't have to worry about topping up credits.

Other reasons to choose a pager for your birdnews

• Fixed price for your birdnews: No matter how many messages we send you always pay the same price

• Instant alerts in the field: Unlike calling expensive birdlines or browsing websites on your phone in the field, pagers alert you when we send you news.  This means you will not login late and hear about the news when it is too late.

• Easy to use: Just switch it on and the pager will do the rest. Unlike mobile phones you don't need to keep telling the system what you want to hear about.

• No maintenance: You don't need to delete messages to make sure you have space, the pager will delete the oldest message so you always have room for the latest news.

Why choose the X3 pager?

Flexibility
Our new X3 pager has been designed specially for RBA and puts you in complete control of the news you receive. It is the only birding pager which allows you to choose (and change) which areas you get news from, so whether you are spending a long weekend in Norfolk, a week in Scotland or a few weeks on Scilly you will have the birdnews that matters most to you, at the times when you want it.

Key features of the X3 pager:

• Easily changeable birdnews
  Change your local areas whenever you want
• X3 Mega Alert - controllable and instant
  Set any tone or priority level you want for your mega alert
• Set different alerts and priority levels
  Each news folder can be customised individually, so you can change (or silence) each folder’s alert to whatever suits you.
• Big memory
  The X3 stores 250 messages
• Rugged and durable
  Designed for use in harsh operating environments, the X3 has splash and dustproof protection and a toughened front plate, making it perfect for birding.
• Three sizes of text
  Use the X3 menu to make reading the news even easier. Choose from 3 fonts sizes, each in 'bold' or 'not bold'.

Below you will find a table comparing the features of our two pagers. 

The X3 pager, new for 2009, sets a new standard in paging and offers unrivalled flexibility, a wealth of features and with its rugged and durable construction its the ideal pager for the active birder.  The X3 pager is available with our Platinum, Gold, Silver and SilverPlus subscriptions.

Our 21a pager was our premier pager for many years until 2009 and is still an excellent pager, only bettered by our X3. It is still available with our Bronze subscription, for which it is more than 'up-to-the-job' but note that the 21a does not allow you to change your local area unless you send the pager back to RBA.

Pager Type

How does our X3 pager service work?

You choose a Subscription e.g.. Platinum, Gold, SilverPlus or Silver which determines what kind of and how many 'Birdnews Folders' you can subscribe to at a time.

Then, when you receive your pager, you select which birdnews folders you want, and you start receiving news immediately.

Whenever you want to change the birdnews folders on your pager, use the pager's menu to do so at any time, and as often as you like. You will be limited to the maximum number of folders that your subscription allows.

Birdnews folders

Birdnews folders are the pager’s mailboxes into which the news drops. There are three different categories, described below. Your RBA subscription level determines how many folders from each category you can access at any one time. 

You can easily select any of the folders in your category using the pager’s menu. So, if you go away for the weekend, simply switch one of your Local folders to any of the other 20 to suit the area that you are visiting.

2 National folders cover news for the whole of the UK and Ireland

• National - for all first reports and all updates on all scarce, rare and mega birds
• Earlybird - for very early morning updates on megas.

• Breaking Megas - for first reports of megas.
• Breaking Rarities - for first reports of all rarities and megas.
• Rarities - for first reports and all updates on rarities and megas.  

• Switch easily between any of these local areas whenever you want
  See a map of the areas covered by each local folder HERE

Subscriptions

We have a number of different pager subscriptions to choose from.

You can purchase or rent a pager from us.  Purchasing a pager outright reduces your ongoing costs by £60 per year and when you finish your contract we have a buy-back scheme to make it even more cost effective.   

Compare subscription costs

Set price: No matter how much news you receive, you always pay the same price.

Save money by paying quarterly, and save even more by paying annually 

In addition to your above information costs there is an annual subscription of £35.25