Record number of datasets loaded onto the NBN Gateway
February was a record breaking month in terms of the number of datasets loaded onto the NBN Gateway. 75 datasets were loaded, which is an all time high. We are also getting close to the 70 million mark so keep an eye on the dataset updates in the coming months. The datasets that have been uploaded are always listed on the home page of the NBN Gateway, so you can easily see what is new or updated.
Included in this record number of datasets is the Heritage Lottery Fund, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ERC Black Poplar dataset. This dataset, including 119 Black-poplar (Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia) records, was the result of a public participation survey.
Here is a little more information on the dataset….
The Cambridgeshire and Peterborough ERC dataset on Black-poplars (Populus nigra betulifolia), uploaded to the NBN Gateway in March 2012, was the result of a public participation survey carried out for this species in 2006. The species is important in the county as it is not common, and whilst good numbers of mature trees are present, the numbers of new trees seemed to be very low.
The survey was one of the first carried out by the first community officer which the ERC had in post, as part of a large Heritage Lottery Fund bid which got the original records centre off on a firm footing in 2005. Black-poplars are also either male or female, and the number of male trees is believed to be extremely low; this survey established the sex of as many of the existing and new black-poplars as was possible, using a mixture of expert and amateur public.
The ERC re-surveyed known trees for their health and continued existence, and asked many local groups and individuals to contact them with potential other black-poplars not known to them. As a result, lots of new trees, including a good number of young trees, were found. The public were given sufficient information to be able to attempt the identification themselves, and this was then verified by local experts in any cases where identification was in doubt. Whilst all of the young trees had been planted, they were from known, reliable provenance in the eastern region and are planted on secure, local-managed sites, hopefully securing the future of this tree in the Cambridgeshire Landscape.
Although that HLF project has ceased, CPERC still has HLF funding, for its current Biodiversity Outreach Officer, Jane Andrews-Gauvain, who is focussing recording on the poorly-known parts of the county in the far north and east and involving the local communities in those parts of Cambridgeshire in valuable recording work.
The full Black-poplar report can be obtained on paper from the CPERC office or downloaded here as a PDF.