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Make your wildlife watching count!

If you enjoy spotting wildlife around the Inner Forth, there’s a new way to make those sightings help make a difference for nature in our area. The IFLI Forth Nature Counts project aims to help give a clearer picture of the wildlife that can be found in the Forth, through the IFLI iRecord scheme. 

By logging your wildlife sightings on the really easy-to-use on-line form, you will not only get an instant ‘dot’ on the map showing your sighting, but you’ll be able to see what other people in the area have spotted too. Over time you can build up a bank of your own records to look back on. Even more importantly, your records will play a part in building a much more complete and accurate picture of the natural heritage found throughout the Inner Forth area, and help organisations that use this ‘biological data’ to help protect our wildlife and the habitats it depends on. So it would be great if you would give the Inner Forth iRecord Form a go and share it with others.

But what happens once you have entered your records via the Inner Forth iRecord form? Essentially all inputted records are automatically checked and recorders will be made aware of any queries. Don’t think you’ve necessarily got it wrong if you receive one of these messages – it just means the species you think you saw may not be regularly seen at that time of year, or in that place, so the computer highlights that it needs verifying. It’s not all computer wizardry – additional checking is undertaken by humans – which is why IFLI are working with Buglife Scotland, who are doing that verifying and then submitting the data to the National Biodiversity Network Gateway . The NBN Gateway holds over 100 million records from around the UK – your record will contribute to this amazing resource!

If you are confident in identifying a species or taxa and could be tempted by volunteering as a verifier, do get in touch to find out more.

If you have any queries about  the IFLI iRecord scheme please feel free to contact Kate or Paul at IFLI on 01324 831 568 for more details. We have created a prompt card to help you remember your log-in details. You can download your own copy at http://www.innerforthlandscape.co.uk/projects/recording-celebrating/forth-nature-counts

To help get you started, we are busy planning a series of wildlife ID and species survey skills workshops for 2015. They will all be free thanks to our funding from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund! Booking is now open for our two February sessions, but many more will follow in the New Year e-newsletter:

Booking is essential and places are limited. Please book via Kate Fuller, or Paul Barclay, on 01324 831 568 or info@innerforthlandscape.co.uk