Written by Martin Harvey, UKCEH Biological Records Centre
The UKCEH Biological Records Centre (BRC) maintains iRecord and the underlying Indicia software that is used by a wide range of online recording systems. These systems exist to support the collection, verification and sharing of biological records, which are regularly shared to the NBN Atlas.
The records are shared on behalf of the national recording schemes and other recording projects who make use of iRecord and provide the verification checks for the records. The dataflow includes records added to iRecord, to other Indicia systems, and records from iNaturalistUK that are imported into iRecord for verification.
Many recording schemes and projects make use of iRecord’s automated monthly uploads to the NBN Atlas. The latest automated upload in October 2025 consisted of almost 7.5 million species records, across 79 datasets, of which c. 250,000 records were new since the previous month.
The latest new set of records to be supplied is for dance flies (family Empididae), sent on behalf of the Empidid and Dolichopodid Recording Scheme. Further millions of iRecord-linked records arrive with the NBN Atlas independently of the automatic process, sent directly by recording schemes that prefer to download the data from iRecord and incorporate it in their own uploads to the NBN Atlas.
Although this is a small proportion of the total number of records available on the NBN Atlas, it does provide a very efficient route for new records to appear there. At the time of writing, over 90% of the records on the NBN Atlas for the year 2025 have come via iRecord. That proportion will drop as other datasets get added to the NBN Atlas over time, but it does demonstrate how quickly records from the iRecord system can flow and become available for wider use.
There are still some gaps in the dataflow, where records in iRecord are not yet going to the NBN Atlas, and BRC continues to work with recording schemes and other stakeholders to fill in the gaps and make more records available.
Many thanks to the increasing number of recording scheme verifiers who help check the records and keep the data flowing. We now have around 1,000 registered verifiers on iRecord, with over 200 new verification roles having been established during 2025.
Record Cleaner
Record Cleaner is a free online tool to help people improve the quality of their wildlife records and databases.
It is designed to help you spot potential problems in your data. The goal is to aid the process of data cleaning and ensure the quality of any datasets you pass on to others.
In 2024/25 Record Cleaner was redeveloped by UKCEH Biological Records Centre (BRC), building on the earlier NBN Record Cleaner approach, and with support from Defra, via the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment Programme, and from Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) National Capability funding.
The online Record Cleaner can be accessed via the BRC website and there is more information on the NBN Trust website.