A weekend at Birdfair

CEH's Biological Records Centre (BRC) teamed up with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) this weekend (15-17 August 2014) to co-host a stand at the hugely popular Birdfair annual event at Rutland. Birdfair attracts more than 20,000 wildlife enthusiasts of all ages and from many different countries and was an ideal venue to encourage more people to record their wildlife sightings. Records submitted through BRC's apps and iRecord website are used in research by CEH scientists and colleagues.

Just finishing off #Birdfair stand with @BSBIbotany ready for tomorrow. Looks fab. @__BRC__ @CEHScienceNews pic.twitter.com/zTIxKF09Vw
— Michael Pocock (@mjopocock) August 14, 2014

Visitors were able to see how easy it is to use BRC's range of recording apps, such as iRecord Ladybirds and iRecord Butterflies (and get an exciting sneak preview of the forthcoming grasshopper app!). It was also great to see interest in the forthcoming National Plant Monitoring Scheme, which involves both CEH and BSBI. 

A number of CEH scientists were in attendance to chat about their work and about the importance of recording wildlife...

It's getting busy today at #Birdfair with @___BRC___ and @BSBIbotany. Lots of enthusiasm for recording wildlife. pic.twitter.com/M6bcOFIuzZ
— Michael Pocock (@mjopocock) August 15, 2014

Every wildlife record is valuable. Find out the story of "record, research, respond" at #BIRDFAIR with @___BRC___ and @BSBIbotany
— Michael Pocock (@mjopocock) August 16, 2014

...as well as enjoy the efforts of our stand partners...

@BSBIbotany informative bird fair stand - included the most beautiful "test" I have ever seen - name the 10 meadow plants (flowering)
— Helen Roy (@UKLadybirds) August 17, 2014

...and discover some of the other great research and volunteer efforts being highlighted at the show...

If you're at the #Birdfair today, pop by the @_BTO stand to talk BBS or introduce yourself if you already take part. pic.twitter.com/uqnllwC17W
— Sarah (@harris_sjh) August 17, 2014

Thanks to everyone who took the time to pop by and have a chat! We hope you had a great show and continue to enjoy viewing (and recording!) wildlife.

.Another fab day @BirdfairRutland meeting lots more lovely wildlife people with @mjopocock @___BRC___ @CEHScienceNews pic.twitter.com/QvSt2Tdj8W
— BSBI (@BSBIbotany) August 16, 2014

So many people dropped in to our @BirdfairRutland stand! @sacrevert very busy all day :-) @CEHScienceNews @___BRC___ pic.twitter.com/sfKUKQ254J
— BSBI (@BSBIbotany) August 19, 2014

There's an app for that...

 

Related links

 

Smartphone apps for citizen science and environmental recording

When and how to use citizen science: best practice guides from CEH

Posted by Paulette Burns, Media Coordinator

Crowd-sourced soil data for Europe; and the Globe?

CEH scientists worked with our NERC colleagues in the British Geological Survey on the development of the mySoil app, which was released for iOS in June 2012 and has since gained more than 12,000 users. The developers are now hoping to expand it further:

mySoil is a free smartphone app (downloadable at the iTunes App Store), originally for the United Kingdom and recently expanded to cover Europe with contributions from the Met Office in the UK and the Joint Research Centre, Italy. mySoil contains a soil properties map with basic information on soil texture, pH and vegetation habitat. It also has the ability to crowd source geo-referenced data. We are continuing to expand the capabilities of mySoil and would be interested in hearing from groups who might help with data to take this effort global.

David A Robinson.

• Read more about the mySoil app in Nature
• Contact Dr David Robinson at CEH if you can help with data to take mySoil global.
• The NERC Soil Portal provides a gateway to discover, view and download large-scale soils property datasets from across NERC research centres.
• Soil science research at CEH

A revolution in ladybird recording

Ladybirds are charismatic insects and so it is perhaps not surprising that people in Britain have enthusiastically recorded them for centuries. With the launch today of a new ladybird recording app for mobile phones and iPads,  Dr Helen Roy from the UK Ladybird Survey updates us on how ladybird recording has changed over time. 

Tens of thousands of people have contributed to ladybird recording in Britain since the first record more than two centuries ago.  At that time it would have been difficult to imagine the technologies that now prevail in the world of biological recording.  Notebook and pencil and perhaps an entomological net have been, and remain, the essential tools of ladybird recording.  However, new technologies  provide opportunities to support this pursuit. 



Ladybird records span more than two centuries: the record cards above are
from the 1970s and 1980s.



Since the launch of the online UK Ladybird Survey in 2005, interest in ladybird recording has grown beyond expectation.  Indeed it has been inspirational.  The smartphone app launched today links to the new ladybird recording form within iRecord, allowing recorders to manage their own records and benefit from rapid verification by an expert behind the scenes.

 

Helen Roy and Barnaby Smith of CEH using the new ladybird app



 

Over the years the UK Ladybird Survey in its many guises (Coccinellidae Recording Scheme and Cambridge Ladybird Survey) has benefitted from rich and fruitful collaborations.  The project to develop the app was no exception.  The app was developed through the Biological Records Centre at CEH in partnership with the fabulous NatureLocator team at Bristol University and John van Breda at Biodiverse IT.  It is the latest in a line of apps from this team which to date include Leaf Watch and Plant Tracker and, in the near future, butterflies and orthoptera.

The new app and iRecord are set to revolutionise ladybird recording in Britain and the UK Ladybird Survey will take advantage of new technologies for biological recording with the aim of increasing participation even further while retaining the high quality data available for all to share.  However, nothing will detract from the pleasure of being in the field with a net, notebook and pen on a quest for ladybirds!

Dr Helen Roy

Additional information

Dr Helen Roy is an ecological entomologist at the Biological Records Centre within CEH

iRecord is a web-based tool for managing and sharing wildlife records

The iRecord Ladybirds app is currently available via the Apple store and will soon be available for Android devices through the Google store.