06 Feb BSG Ecology submits over 72,000 records to Local Records Centres
This year we have submitted 72,435 records to 38 Local Environmental Records Centres (LERCs) across the UK. This takes our total submitted over the past three years to 181,940 records.
The records have included range-restricted raptors such as white-tailed and golden eagles from upland Scotland, recolonising pine marten across various sites in Wales, and large numbers of other protected species including great crested newt, bats, otter and water vole. We have also recorded some exceptional flocks of wintering swans, as well as numerous territories of priority farmland passerines such as corn bunting and yellowhammer.
The development of sophisticated and integrated GIS-led data capture and management systems is what allows us to submit records at scale. These systems ensure our species data, which is largely collected in the field using survey-specific iPAD proformas with various mandatory fields, can be extracted easily in a common format. Code, written by our GIS team, is then used to attribute each record to LERC recording area. Records are extracted and checked by an ecologist prior to issue, with any records for confidential or sensitive sites sifted out through a manual check.
Our systems help us get around the traditional consultancy challenge of finding time to compile, check and issue data and ensures we act in accordance with the mission of the Chartered Institute of Ecology and Environmental Management (CIEEM) which encourages members to “make scientific data and information publicly available whenever possible.” As ecologists, assisting the LERCs in building regionally representative species data sets that can be used to inform both development planning and conservation initiatives is very important to us.
