The National Biodiversity Network Trust is pleased to share details of an upcoming event that places biological recording and biodiversity monitoring centre stage. The Biological Recording: Local to National Virtual Symposium, delivered by the Biological Recording Company in partnership with the National Forum for Biological Recording, offers a unique opportunity to explore how wildlife records inform conservation, planning, and policy – from individual sites to national datasets.
Across the UK, thousands of biological recorders – professionals, volunteers, and citizen scientists alike – contribute data that fuels evidence-based decisions about how we manage, protect and restore the natural world. But how do these records scale up? How do local observations translate into national understanding? And what challenges and innovations lie along the way?
Speaker Programme
This half-day online event, hosted by Dr Sarah Whild of the NFBR, will highlight the diversity of approaches and the real-world impact of biological recording across geographic and organisational scales. The speaker programme brings together four expert voices, each offering a perspective on how their work connects the dots between local observation and large-scale understanding.
- Charismatic Clearwings in Mid Wales with Dr Norman Lowe (Brecknock Moth Group)
- Tracking the Impact: Landscape Scale Monitoring Across the Chilterns with Nick Marriner (Chilterns National Landscape)
- 30 Years of Garden BirdWatch with Susan Jones (British Trust for Ornithology)
- Getting To Scale: Biodiversity Monitoring for Local Change Detection with Caroline Coogan (Joint Nature Conservation Committee)
The presentations will be recorded and shared with those who booked alongside Q&A transcripts and lists of useful links via a password-protected website following the event.
Ticket Fees
Tickets are offered on a flexible basis to maximise accessibility. For professionals attending through work or for career development, a standard ticket is £30. For non-professionals – such as volunteers, wildlife enthusiasts and citizen scientists – there is a “pay what you can” option, starting from just £1.20.
This symposium is for everyone involved in biological recording, whether you’re an experienced ecologist, a local volunteer, or just beginning your journey into biodiversity monitoring. It’s an opportunity to be inspired, informed, and connected with the wider community of people working to understand and protect nature through the power of data.
Book your place today at Eventbrite and join us as we celebrate the critical role of biological records – from the local to the national, and beyond.