The following information is provided in order to comply with the new I.C.O cookie laws

We use cookie to enhance the feature of this site including but not limited to detecting if you have flash installed for our image gallery. We may use both session (cookies deleted after you leave the site) and permanent cookies (cookies needing to be manually deleted).
If you wish to find out more about cookies you can visit the site about cookies or go to the I.C.O website here.

What is A Cookie

A cookie is a small file that is downloaded onto your computer when you visit a website. It allows us to recognize and tailor our site to you and it won’t harm your computer.

If you prefer, you can restrict, block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings but that may mean that you won’t be able to view this site at its best or to use all this site’s functionality.

Google Cookies

Google Analytics sets first party cookies via a piece of JavaScript code which must be added to every page that site owners want to track. It sets four cookies automatically, and a fifth via opt-in (this relates to sharing information about your traffic with Google).

Globally and in the European Union member states Google sets the following cookies:

__utma Cookie
A persistent cookie – remains on a computer, unless it expires or the cookie cache is cleared. It tracks visitors. Metrics associated with the Google __utma cookie include: first visit (unique visit), last visit (returning visit). This also includes Days and Visits to purchase calculations which afford ecommerce websites with data intelligence around purchasing sales funnels.

__utmb Cookie & __utmc Cookie
These cookies work in tandem to calculate visit length. Google __utmb cookie demarks the exact arrival time, then Google __utmc registers the precise exit time of the user.

Because __utmb counts entrance visits, it is a session cookie, and expires at the end of the session, e.g. when the user leaves the page. A timestamp of 30 minutes must pass before Google cookie __utmc expires. Given__utmc cannot tell if a browser or website session ends. Therefore, if no new page view is recorded in 30 minutes the cookie is expired.

This is a standard ‘grace period’ in web analytics. Ominture and WebTrends among many others follow the same procedure.

  __utmz Cookie
Cookie __utmz monitors the HTTP Referrer and notes where a visitor arrived from, with the referrer siloed into type (Search engine (organic or cpc), direct, social and unaccounted). From the HTTP Referrer the   __utmz Cookie also registers, what keyword generated the visit plus geolocation data.

This cookie lasts six months. In tracking terms this Cookie is perhaps the most important as it will tell you about your traffic and help with conversion information such as what source / medium / keyword to attribute for a Goal Conversion.

__utmv Cookie
Google __utmv Cookie lasts “forever”. It is a persistant cookie. It is used for segmentation, data experimentation and  the __utmv works hand in hand with the   __utmz cookie to improve cookie targeting capabilities.