Wildlife recording: If you don’t know what you’ve got, then you won’t know when it’s gone
Many of us are interested in wildlife and watch the species which visit our gardens or favourite local places. Unfortunately, far fewer record the wildlife they see and don’t pass on this valuable information. And that is where you can help! Wildlife records describe the presence, abundance, associations and changes, both in time and space, of wildlife. In its simplest form it is no more than writing down a little information about what you have seen, where and when you saw it and sharing it with County recorders.
In doing so you can help to contribute greatly to local knowledge of our wildlife and habitats. Records can help to establish the distribution and size of populations, and regular recording may enable detection of changes over time. They help to identify the location of rare and locally important species, and can be used to help protect them and their habitats from damage. Over time they help to understand how our environment is changing, for example in response to climate change. Even records of commoner species can be valuable too – what is common today may not be in the future. So why not help by sending in your wildlife records and make the information available to present and future generations. A list of where you can send Hampshire records (depending on the species identified) is available from https://documents.hants.gov.uk/biodiversity/Hampshire-County-Recorder-List.pdf.
Briefly a wildlife record is WHAT you saw, WHERE you saw it, WHEN you saw it and WHO you are. There are websites to help with identification, see links to some at https://www.froylewildlife.co.uk/links/. The Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre (HBIC) has an extensive database of records for the County and collates records with partner organisations. HBIC and their partner organisations such as Butterfly Conservation, Hampshire Flora Group and Hampshire Ornithological Society have provided us with past records within the parish of Froyle. Lists of species found in Froyle can be viewed at https://www.froylewildlife.co.uk/recording/species-lists/. Some of these local records were originally submitted by Sue Clark and myself.
A recent talk organised by ACAN ‘Can Nature Count on You?’ introduced HBIC and explained the importance of biological recording, also with a contribution from a local Alton amateur botanist, email altonclimatenetwork@gmail.com if you would like to watch this recorded talk.
