Scottish biodiversity data stories

In September 2024 a Better Biodiversity Data exhibition was held at the Scottish Parliament to showcase biodiversity data stories from across Scotland, highlighting the diverse ways in which biodiversity data is collected, collated and used across many organisations and sectors.

The exhibition provided an opportunity to demonstrate the critical importance of biodiversity data for delivery of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and to advocate for the SBIF vision of a transformed biodiversity data infrastructure by 2030.  

You can read the stories shared by contributors from across Scotland by following the links below. 

• Colonsay Biodiversity – how a volunteer-led initiative is working with Glasgow University to help fill knowledge gaps about Colonsay’s marine environment. 
• Corncrake Calling – RSPB volunteers survey and monitor corncrakes, helping to identify priority areas for habitat management and advice to landowners.
• Discovering freshwater algae species in the Outer Hebrides – how recorders collaborate with academics to explore less understood habitats.  
• East Lothian Countryside Volunteers – recording Giant Hogweed enables an on-going eradication programme of this non-native invasive species. 
• Finding the Flapper Skate – how Seasearch divers identified a Flapper Skate breeding area, leading to a new Marine Protected Area.
• Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust – using citizen science collected data to understand and protect marine mammals in Scotland’s seas. 
• Holy Loch Nature Reserve – community-led recording and the challenges of sharing data. 
• Martens on the Move – the Vincent Wildlife Trust is establishing a pine marten monitoring programme and engaging with new communities in the Scottish Borders. 
• National Museums Scotland – enabling access to their collections of Scottish species and recording biodiversity on their sites. 
• NESBReC – how a Local Environmental Records Centre surveys Local Nature Conservation Sites to help protect them from development. 
• Orkney Field Club and Species on the Edge – working together to record and conserve the Great Yellow Bumblebee. 
• Rare Invertebrates in the Cairngorms – how volunteer observations and habitat management by landowners help rare and underrecorded species. 
• Recorders, deer-stalkers and apiarists – how specialist communities can help recorders access information on underrepresented species.
• Restoration Forth partnership – how recording by volunteers and partners is highlighting the challenges facing biodiversity in the Firth of Forth.
• Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh – digitising their Herbarium collection of plants and fungi to enable further research into Scotland’s biodiversity. 
• Saving Scotland’s Red Squirrels – how volunteers help monitor red squirrels and the threats they face across Scotland.
• Seabirds Count – the JNCC co-ordinated census enlisted volunteers and professional surveyors to reveal trends in Scotland’s seabird populations.
• Skills for Bees – how Bumblebee Conservation Trust is training recorders and collecting data on bumblebees in the Cairngorms.
• Species on the Edge partnership – the role of recording in nine species recovery projects across Scotland’s coast and islands. 
• The Deer Vehicle Collision project – how NatureScot and Transport Scotland use biodiversity data to mitigate against collisions.
• The ‘Puffarazzi’ – how citizen scientists’ photos of puffins shed light on their diet and population declines in a study led by the RSPB.
• The Scottish Ornithologists’ Club Lothian branch – a local bird atlas mapping project contributes to national data sets and helps mentor new recorders.
• Yorkhill Green Spaces – community-led recording in Glasgow is helping to manage local urban green spaces for biodiversity.