Collect once – and use infinitely! How you can work with the NBRC to submit your ecological reports, and support the wider ecology profession with quality comprehensive data for good decision making.
A wealth of biological records are collected by environmental consultants and ecological professionals everyday as part of your day-to-day work. By sharing back to your local LERC you are both supporting the CIEEM accreditation duty ‘to make scientific data available to others’, and supporting the wider profession by ensuring that quality information is there for accurate, informed, future decision making and research.
“It is expected that following the completion of surveys, all relevant biodiversity data obtained will be submitted to the relevant LERCs and other groups as appropriate, unless the client has expressly refused permission for this. A statement to this effect should be included in the consultants’ Terms and Conditions. Data can be submitted direct to the LERC. Note that where a protected species licence is required, submission of such data by the stated deadline is a requirement of the licence” Chartered Institute for Ecology and Environmental Management (2020)
Ideally for Northamptonshire we prefer you come direct, so we can follow up as needed for validation – meaning accurate records are not lost and all submissions can be captured (not yet possible via NBN Consultants' Portal). We encourage submission of ALL species records, every biological record adds depth and accuracy to the information we are able to provide. Please submit all species recorded, common and rare, (with the four w’s what, when, where and who with accurate grid reference information) alongside your reporting of consultation records. We need to know the species found on your survey, where they were recorded (site name and 6 or 8 figure grid reference preferred), the date of the survey and please remember to include your name as the recorder – these elements are vital. Any comments on behaviour, stage, associated species, sex and abundance are also really helpful detail to supply. If records are from translocation, please submit a record for each location. Completed a habitat assessment? This dated condition assessment information too is a vital resource to aid landscape scale management for conservation and important to submit.
We recognise the consultancies who take the time to submit records and work to good practice, and understand that we need to work with you to aid this data flow. Our excel template can be used for submission, pre-formatted and with guidance for swift processing. Original reports are also fine, as long as they contain the 4 w’s to ensure we have all the information we need to create a record and to save time please ensure they are submitted with accurate location detail. However you collect your data you are welcome to contact us and work with the team on your submission in other formats (Recorder/MapMate etc.).