Wildlife recording in the UK is a triumph of public contribution to our collective knowledge of the natural world.
Devoted volunteers and enthusiasts generate vast databanks supporting environmental policy, research and practice with baseline data for thousands of native and non-native UK species. As threats to UK wildlife mount and the need to grow the evidence base for effective conservation becomes increasingly dire, we need to make the most of this amazing energy.
We use public surveys, workshops, online activities and BioBlitz events as a gateway into more in depth citizen science and biological recording, inviting people to get a taste of a highly valuable and rewarding pursuit.
BUT – to the uninitiated, the recording world can appear technically demanding, daunting and full of barriers, so how do we introduce the important processes and concepts of verification and data quality to potential new recorders without scaring them off?
Through support from Defra, Bristol Natural History Consortium, is developing a toolkit to help organisations, naturalists, recorders and BioBlitz organisers to talk about biological data in ways that are more accessible and we’d love to get your open and honest thoughts to help inform the resource.
The NBN is delighted to contribute to this project as it fits with a number of the NBN’s Strategic Objectives from the NBN Action Plan 2016 – 2020.
Timescales
Timescales are tight so please respond before Friday 3rd March 2017.
Our questions
1. What is the single most important thing for a new biological recorder to understand at the beginning of their recording journey? Why?
2. What is the single biggest barrier to people recording their wildlife sightings? Why?
3. You are at a BioBlitz event and someone asks “What happens to all of these data we are collecting? Is all of it useful?” What would your response be?
Please give us us your responses by completing the survey on the Bristol Natural History Consortium website