Why iRecord?ΒΆ

If you’re reading this page then I’m sure I don’t need to go into details as to why wildlife recording can be a fascinating and rewarding activity. Hopefully after reading this you will realise that iRecord can not only make wildlife recording even more enjoyable but can also make your recording efforts become much more worthwhile. Biological recording is not just about having fun, as good quality biological records are essential to inform everything from planning decisions to political policy to scientific research. At it’s most fundamental level wildlife records are collected on paper or in digital form such as a spreadsheet. It’s all too easy for the records to get forgotten about and left exactly where they are; the records are then not available for anything from planning decisions to research. Contrastingly, by using an online recording system like iRecord you can easily:

  • Share your sightings with the recording community
  • Explore dynamic maps and graphs of your data
  • Ensure that your records are available to appropriate organisations and therefore make a real contribution to science and conservation.

Online wildlife recording presents a plethora of new opportunities :

  • Sharing records is simplified to the point that the recorder need not actually do anything other than add their records to the system. Records can be easily shared with other recorders, local record centres and the NBN Gateway.
  • By sharing our records, we can learn from the experiences of others such as what is being recorded on our patch by others, what identifications are being verified by experts and so forth.
  • By sharing our records, we can get rapid feedback from experts and other recorders on record quality issues.
  • By sharing our records, we can ensure our records are of maximum value and not just known only to ourselves.

Tip

iRecord’s philosophy is that sharing of non-sensitive records is a fundamental part of wildlife recording. In fact, unless there are sensitivity issues relating to a record iRecord makes records available for public interest and to support nature conservation. iRecord is not the right tool for you if you want to keep a private list of records!

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