Welcome to NBRC

Northamptonshire Biodiversity Records Centre (NBRC) supports the recording, curation and sharing of quality verified environmental information for sound decision-making. We are a not-for profit, impartial, independent provider of biodiversity and geodiversity information for all who wish to use it. The centre is one of nearly fifty county-based Local Environmental Records Centres operating across the UK and we are members of the national Association of Local Environmental Records Centres (ALERC), the National Biodiversity Network (NBN), the National Forum for Biological Recording (NFBR), and the county’s Biodiversity Partnership and Local Nature Partnership.

Please note the following planned update to our service charges:

After three years of service charges at the rate of £120 per hour, we have recently reviewed our charging to ensure our data service continues to cover our operating costs for data management. On the 30th April 2020 the NBRC data service charge will be raised from £120 to £145 per hour. We aim to maintain pricing at consistent levels year-on-year where possible and continue to operate on a non-profit basis.

Help us by reporting your wildlife sightings.

For your first record submission, please read our quick guide to Using the NBRC Website to Submit Biological Records.

Keep in touch with the NBRC by signing up to our newsletter.

Develop your skills by signing up to our WILDside events, workshops and talks.

Request a data search to gain information about species, habitats and wildlife sites in a particular location of Northamptonshire.

Find out about our new Drone service

Enquire about an annual service level agreement for your organisation to gain digital GIS layers.

Join in with our 'Look out for....' species focused surveys

Although our WILDside project has sadly come to an end, we will be continuing our Look out for... species focused surveys.

We need you help to find Badgers!

NBRC are hosting the Northamptonshire Badger Group survey.

This group hold records of badger activity across the county, provides advice, and organises rescue and rehabilitation. Your help is needed to increase and update their records. As a small community group, they rely on volunteers and members of the public to report badger information. Records of badger activity in the southern half of the county are particularly needed.

For more information about how you can help and submit your records, please visit our Look out for Badgers survey page.

Look out for Bee-flies!

It's nearly bee-fly season again and we'd like to kick the year off with Back to the bee-flies - part 3. Last year, the Dotted Bee-fly was recorded in Northants for the first time, so check out our Look out for Bee-flies survey page to; see our updated distribution map for the Dark-edged bee-fly, find out how to tell the difference between the Dark-edged bee-fly and Dotted Bee-fly and submit your records for 2020!

Project WILDside

We need your help to find water voles, otters and mink...

To do this, The Wildlife Trust BCN has launched a Water Vole, Otter, and Mink Survey Project in the Nene Valley and would like you to be involved. The project aims to understand the distribution of these species across the Nene Valley with the secondary objective of improving the situation for water voles by boosting habitat connectivity. To find out more about the project, how you can help and to submit your records, please visit our "Look for River Mammals!" survey page.

European otter. Photo: Terry Longley & seeing.org

Help our Swifts with our Look out for Swifts! survey. NBRC are hosting the Wildlife Trust BCN three counties swift survey and you can help by providing information on their nesting sites and screaming parties from your local area. Knowing where swifts are nesting or gathering for 'screaming parties' can help with protecting the areas and with planning installation of new boxes.

Swift Photo: David Tipling/2020VISION

Please join in with our "Look out for Rabbits!" survey.... Wild rabbits are frequently overlooked when it comes to species recording as they are considered to be common and widespread, however this means we have few records for them in our database. Help us fill the gaps in our rabbit map so we can track their population trends. This way we can be alert to any decline.

August 2019 Update - This year's "Look our for Beeflies!" survey is now over. We are excited to announce that we received 33 records of the dark-edged bee fly through our website. Which, added to the 100 or so records submitted elsewhere for this species in Northants in 2019, means we have a great picture of where this species was present. Even more excitingly, we received our first records of the dotted bee-fly Bombylius discolor, a new species to the county! You can see a picture and read more about this species on the Northants Diptera blog. Thank you to all of the 2019 bee-fly spotters. We will revising this update shortly with a new distribution map including all the new records.

September 2018 Update - Our "Look out for Beeflies!" survey is now over. Thank you to everyone who submitted records for this species focussed survey. We are happy to announce that as a result of the survey, an additional 26 records have been added. If you still have records to add, you can still add them to using our Submit a sighting form.

April 2018 Update - Our "Look out for Mistletoe!" survey is now over. Thank you to everyone who submitted records for this species focussed survey. We are happy to announce that as a result of the survey, an additional 61 records have been added. If you still have records to add, you can still add the them to using our Submit a sighting form.

December 2017 Update - Take part in our first "Look out for" survey and help us to look out for Mistletoe.

Our Heritage Lottery Fund supported project runs until December 2019. The project aims to enthuse and enable the next generation of wildlife recorders across Northamptonshire. This includes encouraging new recorders and supporting existing recorders to develop their skills. Please click on the logo to find out more about this exciting project.

Join in with our 'Look out for....' species focused surveys

Project WILDside

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