At the Society, we are always interested to hear about how others have used our data (whether for use in science, sociology, art or anything else) and are glad to have produced a resource that is being put to use.

Access to ESB earthworm records

The ESB has an open data policy, allowing open access to our earthworm records with no constraints to the use of the data and ensuring records are available at the full resolution they are accepted at.

This is achieved through the submission of our databases to the NBN Gateway, and in future the NBN’s Living Atlas infrastructure projects, starting with the Atlas of Living Scotland. As a Supporter Member of the NBN we are committed to ensuring this data set is updated on a regular basis (and no less than twice per year).

Datasets that are managed by the Earthworm Society of Britain can be found through the organisation page for the ESB on the NBN Gateway:

Furthermore, we allow our records to be made available through the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (an international open data infrastructure, funded by governments) in accordance with their vision: “A world in which biodiversity information is freely and universally available for science, society and a sustainable future.”

Licences and attribution

All data submitted to the Earthworm Society of Britain is assigned a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence as it is recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials.

It allows others to:
• Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
• Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially
(The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.)

Under the following terms:
• Attribution — Users must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
• No additional restrictions — Users may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

Written by the Earthworm Society of Britain

The following note was written by Keiron Brown – “My NBN conference promise in honour of John was to ensure that the ESB records would be submitted to the NBN (for the first time) and that they would always be as open as possible. I’m happy to say that the publishing of this agreement and the submission of our data (plus two subsequent updates) since the conference means that our NBN conference promise has been upheld”.

The post Open data agreement for earthworm records appeared first on National Biodiversity Network.

It is not a formal course, but instruction is available for those not familiar with the process of identifying earthworms. There will be plenty of more experienced people on hand to help out those who are new to it. The workshop is entirely classroom based.

This Sunday workshop follows a practical day of earthworm sampling the day before at Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s Pontesford and Earl’s Hill reserves. The field day is entirely outdoors. Over the course of the Sunday workshop we will identify earthworms collected the previous day.

You don’t have to attend the Saturday field session in order to book onto the workshop. And you don’t have to book onto the workshop to attend the Saturday field session!

There is a booking fee for the Sunday workshop of £5.00. If you wish to book please visit the FSC website. If you wish to attend the field day (for which there is no booking fee), just send us an email to admin@tombio.uk to say you are coming.

Earthworm identification – to the level required for most scientific records – requires that earthworms be collected, killed and preserved. So only come along to the field session and/or workshop if you are comfortable with that.

Keiron Brown works for the Bat Conservation Trust but has a (not so secret) passion for earthworms! He is the Recording Officer for the Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB), one of the leading earthworm recorders in the UK, and an experienced earthworm identification trainer.

Dr Charlie Bell joined the FSC in Feb 2015 to work on the delivery phase of the Tomorrow’s Biodiversity project.  Charlie combines her part time role on the Tom.bio project with working as one half of the national Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) Secretariat, based out of Shropshire Wildlife Trust. She is an active earthworm recorder in Shropshire.

Dr Rich Burkmar is an ecologist looking after the FSC’s Tomorrow’s Biodiversity project. He is an active earthworm recorder in Shropshire.

The post Earthworm ID workshop appeared first on National Biodiversity Network.

2015 was the most productive year to date! They received 3,488 new earthworm records for their database, with Earthworm Society of Britain (ESB) recorders submitting 925 earthworm records (a healthy increase on the 608 records submitted by ESB recorders in 2014).  They also received new earthworm records for some of Britain’s rarest earthworms:Aporrectodea limicola, Helodrilus oculatus and Dendrobanea pygmaea.

This report illustrates some of the findings and results of the National Earthworm Recording Scheme, as well as explaining the scheme’s developments, promoting their 2016 events and publishing the 2015 Earthworm Society recorder league table.

You can download a copy of the report here.

You can find out more about the Earthworm Society data on the NBN Gateway on their metadata page

The post National Earthworm Recording Scheme Report 2015 appeared first on National Biodiversity Network.