UK biological recording scheme database established

Written by Lizzy Arnold, NBN Data Project Officer

 

The NBN Secretariat is currently building a database of all biological recording schemes and surveys in the UK. That database will include all surveys that take place in the UK and are open for participation by anyone.
The UK really is the global capital of biological recording, in terms of longevity (projects go back as far as the 1700s) and diversity (ranging from shark eggs, to bats to wetland birds and fleas!). This database will help demonstrate that fact by listing more than 190 different initiatives.
For each recording scheme the database will include information about what species, group of species or habitat is the focus of the survey, what geographical area it covers, what time of year volunteers can participate and how to get involved.
The database will allow users to browse and filter all the surveys depending on their interest. The schemes and surveys have been collated from the existing NBN database, the Biological Records Centre, the Association of Local Environmental Record Centres (ALERC), the Biological Recording in Scotland and our own research.
Please contact us if you have a survey or scheme that has not yet been added to our collection (see full list below). The NBN will share the complete biological recording schemes database via the new NBN website that will be launched in November 2015.

Update – March 2016

We are delighted to bring you the fully searchable database of schemes and surveys, which is now available.

List of Schemes (as at August 2015)

(Links to all of the websites will be added in due course)

We will continue to update the list below as an when we receive advice about additional schemes and surveys.

• Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust
  • Add an adder
  • Natterjacks in Cumbria
• Ancient Tree Hunt – The Woodland Trust
• Aquatic Heteroptera Recording Scheme
• Atomariinae Recording Scheme
• Auchenorrhyncha Recording Scheme
• Balfour-Browne Club
• Barkfly Recording Scheme
• Bat Conservation Trust
  • Big Bat Map
  • Field Survey
  • Nathusius’ pipistrelle survey
  • Roost Count
  • Sunset / Sunrise Survey
  • Waterway Survey
  • Woodland Survey
• Bees Wasps & Ant Recording Society
• Beetles and beetle recording in Great Britain
• Big School’s Birdwatch
• Big Seaweed Search
• BioBlitz
• Bird Track
• Black Squirrel Project
• Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland
• Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre
  • How Green is my alley?

• British Arachnological Society,
  • Spider Recording Scheme
  • Opiliones Recording Scheme
  • Pseudoscorpion Recorders’ Group
• British Bryological Society
• British Bugs including Terrestrial Heteroptera Recording Scheme and Psylloidea Recording Scheme
• British Dragonfly Monitoring Scheme
• British Dragonfly Society
  • Migrant Dragonfly Project
• British Isles Neuropterida Recording Scheme
• British Lichen Society
• British Marine life Study Society
  • Shore Watch
• British Mycological Society
• British Myriapod and Isopod Group
  • Centipede Recording Scheme
  • Millipede Recording Scheme
  • Non-marine Isopoda Recording Scheme
• British Natural History Museum- Urban Tree Survey
• British Phycological Society
• Bruchidae & Chrysomelidae Recording Scheme
• British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)
  • Garden BirdWatch
  • Heronries Census
  • House Martin Survey
  • Nest Box Challenge
  • Nest Record Scheme
  • Peregrine survey
  • The ‘What’s Up?’ project
  • Wales Chat Survey
  • Woodcock Survey
• Buglife
  • Scottish Glow worm survey
  • Scottish Seashell Survey
  • The Giant Oak aphid hunt
• Bumblebee Conservation Trust
  • Bee Walk
  • Bee Watch

• Butterfly Conservation
  • Big Butterfly Count
  • Butterflies for the New Millennium

• Calliphoridae Recording Scheme
• Centre for Environmental Data and Recording
• Cerambycidae Recording Scheme
• Cladocera Interest Group
• Cofnod – the Local Environmental Records Centre for North Wales
• Cold-blooded and Spineless
• Collembola Recording Scheme
• Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland
  • Conchological Society Marine Recording Scheme
• Conker Tree Science
• Cornwall Wildlife Trust
  • Seaquest
• Crambidae & Pyralidae Recording Scheme
• Crayfish Recording Scheme
• Database & Atlas of Freshwater Fishes
• Dermestidae Recording Scheme
• Dipterists Forum- The Society for the study of flies (Diptera)
  • Anthomyiidae Study Group
  • Chironomidae Study Group
  • Chloropid Study Group
  • Conopidae, Lonchopterida  & Picture-winged Fly Recording Scheme
  • Culicoides (biting midges) Recording Scheme
  • Cranefly Recording Scheme
  • Dixidae Recording Scheme
  • Drosophilidae Recording Scheme
  • Empididae & Dolichopodidae Recording Scheme
  • Fungus Gnat Recording Scheme
  • Hoverfly Recording Scheme
  • Oestridae Study Group
  • Pipunculidae Study Group
  • Sciomyzidae Recording Scheme
  • Sepsid Recording Scheme
  • Soldierflies and Allies Recording Scheme
  • Stilt & Stalk Fly Study Group
  • Tachinid Recording Scheme
  • Tephritidae Recording Scheme
  • Tipuloidea & Ptychopteridae- Cranefly Recording Scheme

• Dumfries and Galloway Biological Records Centre
• Earthworm Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Elateroidea Recording Scheme
• Falkirk Museum
• Fife Nature Records Centre
• Flying Ant Survey
• Freshwater Flatworm Recording Scheme
• Freshwater Habitats Trust- Pond Net
• Froglife’s Dragon Finder
• Fungus Conservation Trust
• Gelechiid Recording Scheme
• GiGL
• Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust – The last hedgehog in Gloucestershire?
• Ground Beetle Recording Scheme
• Hampshire & Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust
  • Marine Mammal Sighting Survey
• Harlequin Ladybird Survey
• Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust
  • HWDT Community Sightings Programme
• Highland Biodiversity
• Highland Biological Recording Group
• Hypogean Crustacea Recording Scheme
• iGoTerra
• iNaturalist
• Incurvarioidea Recording Scheme
• Irish Sea Leatherback Turtle Project
  • Irish Sea Jellyfish Sightings Scheme
• Islay Natural History Trust Wildlife Information Centre
• Leaf-mining Moth Recording Scheme
• Leisure and Culture Dundee
• Little Owl Project
• Lorn Natural History Group
• Mammal Society
  • Harvest Mouse Survey
  • Mammal Watch South East (MaWSE)
  • National Mammal Atlas
• Marine Biological Association
  • Sealife Survey
  • The Shore Thing

• Marine Conservation Society
  • Basking Shark Watch
  • Jellyfish Survey
  • Seasearch
  • Turtle Watch
• Mitten Crab Recording project
• Mosquito Recording Scheme
• Moth Night
• National Amphibian & Reptile Recording Scheme
• National Barkfly Recording Scheme (Britain and Ireland)
• National Bat Monitoring Programme
• National Marine Aquarium
  • European Basking Shark Photo-identification Project (EBSPiP)
  • United Kingdom Marine Fish Recording Scheme
• National Moth Recording Scheme
• National Plant Monitoring scheme
• Nature Spot – Recording the Wildlife of Leicestershire and Rutland
• Nature’s Calendar
• Newcastle University
  • Capturing our Coast
• New Forest Smooth Snake Survey
• Non-native Species
• Norfolk Bat Survey
• Norfolk Biodiversity Information Service
• North East Cetacean project
• North East Scotland Biological Records Centre
• North Lanarkshire Biological Records Centre
• Oestridae Study Group
• Oil Beetle Survey (Oil Beetle Hunt)
• OPAL Surveys
  • Bugs Count
  • Hedge Biodiversity Survey
  • New Zeland Flat worm survey

• Orchid Observers
• Orkney Biodiversity Records Centre
• Orthocerous Weevils Recording Scheme
• Orthoptera and allied insects
• Outer Hebrides Biological Recording
• Parasitic Wasps Recording Scheme
• People’s Trust for Endangered Species
  • National Hedgehog Survey
  • Hedgehog Street (with British Hedgehog Preservation Society)
  • Great Stag Hunt
  • Living with mammals
  • Mammals on roads
  • Traditional Orchard Survey
  • National Water Vole Monitoring Programme
• Perth Museum Biological Records Centre
• Plume Moth Recording Scheme
• Porcupine Marine Natural History Society Recording Scheme
• Pseudoscorpion Recorders Group
• Psylloidea Recording Scheme
• Ptiliidae Recording Scheme
• Purbeck VMCA
  • Durlston Marine Project
• Recordpool
• Renfrewshire Biological Records Centre
• Riverfly Partnership Recording Schemes
  • Ephemeroptera
  • Plecoptera
  • Trichoptera
• Royal Horticulture Society
  • Berberis sawfly
  • Hemerocallis gall midge
  • Lily beetle survey
  • Rosemary beetle

• RSPB
  • Big Garden Birdwatch
  • Swift Survey
• Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels
• Scarabaeoidea Recording Scheme
• Scathophagidae Recording Scheme
• Scolytidae Recording Scheme
• Scottish Aspen
• Sea Watch Foundation
• Shark Trust
• • Angler Recording Project
  • Basking Shark Sightings
  • The Great Eggcase Hunt Project
  • Undulate Ray Project
• Sheffield Biological Records Centre
• Shetland Biological Records Centre
• Silt & Stalk Fly Recording Scheme
• Silver Dolphin Centre Sightings Programme
• Siphonaptera Recording Scheme
• Skye Environmental Centre
• Slime Mould Recording Scheme
• Soldier Beetles, Jewel Beetles and Glow-worms Recording Scheme
• South Lanarkshire Council
• Spider and Harvestman Recording Scheme
• Staphylinidae Recording Scheme
• Survey Force
• Symphyta Recording Scheme
• Tenebrionoidea Recording Scheme
• Terrestrial Flatworm Recording Scheme
• Terrestrial Heteroptera Recording Schemes
• The Breeding Bird Survey
• The Local Recorders’ Network – Scotland’s Bird Club
• The National Dormouse Monitoring Programme (NDMP)
• The National Pond Monitoring Network (NPMN)
• The Nest Record Scheme
• The Seahorse Trust
  • British Seahorse Survey
• The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS)
• The Welly Zone
• The Wetland Bird Survey (WeBS)
• The Wildlife Information Centre for Lothians and Borders
  • Hedgehog Survey
  • Record a Raptor
• Tick Recording Scheme
• Track a Tree
• Tree Pests and Disease
• UK Ladybird Survey
• Wakame Watch
• Warwickshire Biological Records Centre (WBRC)
• Woodland Trust
  • Observatree
• West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre
• Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society Sightings Scheme
• Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey
• Wild about Glasgow – Glasgow Museum Biological Records Centre
• Wild Mull
• Wiltshire and Swindon Biological Records Centre
• Worcestershire Biological Records Centre
• Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union
• Zoological Society of London
  • ?Thames Marine Mammal Survey