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Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre needs more people to send in records of the wildlife that they see
Words: Rebecca Slack; Photos: Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
When going for a walk, it can be joyful to see a wildflower blooming, a hare leaping ahead or a kestrel hovering over a field. The experience of relaxing in the garden in the spring, picnicking in the park in summer or looking out of the window in winter can be heightened by spotting sparrows and starlings chattering in bushes and trees or an ever-friendly robin coming in close to collect a fallen crumb. These connections to nature are important for our health and wellbeing but they can be so much more.
Did you know that each of these observations – the wildflower, hare, kestrel, sparrows, starlings, robin, and even the bushes and trees where the birds are sitting – provides much needed information about the wildlife around us? There are lots of studies that indicate that the number and range of our wildlife, often called biodiversity, is declining faster than ever before in our recorded history. But more information is needed about the populations and locations of these different animals, plants and even fungi to understand the patterns of change and to then inform the adoption of measures to better protect them.
If you were to turn each of these observations into a record by writing it down and sending it to a wildlife recording organisation, you would be helping to understand what is happening in the natural world. The records will be used to inform planning and development decisions, focus nature recovery schemes, create better land management decisions, contribute to research and education, and simply improve our understanding of the world around us.
There are lots of different schemes seeking wildlife records. They can be focused on a particular species, such as the harvest mouse, or group of species, such as butterflies or birds. Others take part at a particular time of year, like the Big Garden Birdwatch or Big Butterfly Count. There are even niche recording schemes that might look at animals killed on UK roads or the spread of invasive non-native species like Japanese knotweed. All are important as they help build up a better understanding of what is happening to our wildlife.
Across the UK, there are organisations called Local Environment Records Centres which work at a local or regional level to collate and manage biodiversity records for local decision making. It is their databases that are used by local planners to check planning applications and help determine what restrictions need to be put in place to protect rare species and habitats. The information they provide also help local land managers to better understand what might be found on their land and so help with land management decisions such as tree planting and wetland creation. Local Environment Records Centres work with local groups to collect information on local flora and fauna as well as national organisations and schemes to ensure that the highest quality data are gathered and verified by experts called County Recorders.
In Cumbria, the local centre is called Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (CBDC). Based at Tullie Museum in Carlisle, it can trace it origins back over 100 years making it one of the oldest wildlife records centres in the world (probably!). CBDC aims to gather and collate as many wildlife records as possible across the whole of Cumbria to help inform decisions regarding new developments, from house building to new road schemes, as well as the creation and management of a wide variety of habitats and sites to ensure that Cumbria remains a biodiverse county. And CBDC needs your help…
CBDC needs more people to send in records of the wildlife that they see, from common species such as blackbirds and oak trees to rarer species like red squirrels and juniper bushes. This will help build up a better database of the wildlife of Cumbria and so provide much better information to those who need it – the ecologists, planners, builders, developers, researchers, land managers, educators, policy makers and many more. It will help develop a baseline for Cumbrian wildlife so that the natural world can be better monitored in the future.
With your help, CBDC will be able to pin point all the rare and scarce species that need extra protection as well as the commoner species that might be threatened by future pests and diseases. All you need to do is note down what you see, where and when, then send to CBDC. You can do this by contributing to the national schemes, the many recording apps that are available, the CBDC online submission form or on a spreadsheet.
Turning an observation into a record can take seconds, as the CBDC video on recording with the iNaturalist app demonstrates. And costs nothing. You can do your bit for nature every day by taking 30 seconds to record something you see – quick ,easy, fun and incredibly valuable to so many people.
If you are interested in finding out more about recording wildlife, CBDC have organised a free webinar on Tuesday 17th December 2024 at 6:30pm which will provide an introduction to this very simple but vitally important activity. Or find out more from the CBDC website.
To top it all off, CBDC organises the annual Cumbria Wild Watch which takes place at the end of June with the aim of creating a snap shot of Cumbrian wildlife at that particular time. Get involved!
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