NATIONAL FEDERATION FOR BIOLOGICAL RECORDING NEWSLETTER 25 CONTENTS Article Page no. Honorary Officers and Council Members 2 Developing biological recording: NFBR’s role for the future 3 Recorder 2000 – an update 4 NBN News – Delivering Wildlife Information 4 Dragonflies on the web – linking up local, national and International projects 4 Using GPS as an aid to recording and monitoring 6 MarLIN 8 Developing the Biological Records Centre for the National Biodiversity Network 9 Pseudoscorpion recording 10 The Northern Ireland Ground Beetle Atlas 11 Attention - NFBR Conference/AGM!! 12 Items for the Newsletter 12 Reviews Recent UK Biodiversity Action Plan publications 12 Nature in Ireland 13 Provisional atlas of the longhorn beetles (Coleoptera, Cerambycidae) of Britain 13 Orthoptera: Euro-flavour of 1997 14 Threatened Wasps, Ants and Bees (Hymenoptera: Aculeata) in Watsonian Yorkshire 15 LRC & NBN PUBLICATIONS 16 Appendix 1: Income and Expenditure for years ending 31st December 1997 and 1998 (Treasurer’s Report for 1998 as at October 31 1998) 18 1 NFBR Newsletter 25 : August 1999 NATIONAL FEDERATION FOR BIOLOGICAL RECORDING Honorary Officers and Council Members 1999 Chair Secretary Trevor James Nicky Court Hertfordshire Biological Records Centre The County Planning Department c/o Environment Hampshire County Council County Hall, Pegs Lane, The Castle, Winchester Hertford SG5 1RT Hampshire Tel: 01992 555220 Tel: 01962 846741 Membership Secretary Editor Paul T. Harding Damian McFerran 60 Boxwoth Road Centre for Environmental Data and Recording (CEDaR) Elsworth Ulster Museum Cambridge CB3 8JQ Botanic Gardens Tel: 01954 267218 Belfast BT9 5AB Tel: 01232 383154 email:[email protected] Treasurer: (co-opted member) Anne-Marie Smout (BRISC) Michael Weideli Chester Hill, Shore Rd. 35 Bartlemy Road Anstruther, Fife Newbury KY10 3DZ Berkshire RG14 6LD Bill Butcher Steve McWilliam Somerset Environmental Records Centre 4 Priory Close Sandhill Park, Bishops Lydeard Halton, Runcorn Taunton, Somerset TA2 8AS Cheshire WA7 2BN Charles J.T. Copp Dr. Stuart Ball 8 The Paddock Joint Nature Conservation Committee Clevedon Monkstone House Avon BS21 6JU City Road Peterborough PE1 1JY Bill Ely Dr Roger Key Biological Records Officer English Nature Amenities & Recreation Northminster House Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Peterborough Recreation Offices, Grove Road PE1 1UA Rotherham S60 2ER Pamela Tompsett Gillie Sargent Awelon, Colborne Avenue Mammal Society Illogan, Redruth 15 Cloisters House Cornwall TR16 4EB 8 Battersea Road London SW8 4BG Patrick Cloughley (Co-opted member) The Wildlife Trusts c/o Powys County Council County Hall, Llandrindod Wells Powys LD1 5LG 2 NFBR Newsletter 25 : August 1999 Developing biological recording: NFBR’s role for the future. It may be early days, even now, to know how a step along the road, because things will the plans for improving the structure of move on rapidly. Certainly, the demands of biological recording under the National the national and, increasingly, local Biodiversity Network pan out, but in all the Biodiversity Action Plans, have led to all discussions it is worth remembering what the manner of new developments which need to NFBR was set up to do – to promote be serviced with accurate data. These biological recording and the use of biological developments mean that, on the one hand information in conservation, education and we urgently need to get the NBN act together planning. The aims of the NBN consortium on things like data exchange standards and are pretty well a mirror image of this, of accreditation of data suppliers, whilst we also course; probably inevitably as the NFBR was need to have a permanent state of review as pivotal in bringing the ideas together which to what is needed to be supplied, by whom underpin it. Getting the infrastructure in place and to whom. This will mean that the NBN to fulfil the aims was always going to be a will have to be flexible. While it is currently slow process, partly because it is a complex being seen as a fairly unified “system”, it may task, but also because it needs to be thought well be that it develops in a more modular through carefully, and built up step-by-step. way, partly because that is the way that The NFBR’s role in this can be described as funding is tending to go, but also because representation. We are not in a position to that may make it more able to respond to fund projects, or even to provide staff time to change. manage them. However, we do aim to focus The practitioner on the ground could get on factors which must be kept in mind. quite seriously squeezed by all this. National Central to all of these is the role of the field recording schemes are already finding it biologist, amateur or professional (or a quite hard to deliver in some areas. The mixture of both!), only who can ultimately Botanical Society of the British Isles, for deliver the data. For this reason, NFBR’s example, is having to work flat out to meet its input to the NBN has tended to concentrate contractual target to deliver the Atlas 2000. on the practicalities of delivering information, While, 12 years ago, we seemed to be quite at local and national levels, and how this happy to amble along with amateur recording work can involve the broadest range of effort at a fairly low key, suddenly the need is individuals and organisations. It is also why not just for broad-scale data, but for detail – NFBR has attempted to ensure that the how many of what, where, when, to the overall interests of the biological recording nearest 8-figure grid ref. Of course, the fraternity are kept to the fore, when there amateur resource cannot be relied on to might be a tendency for any one of the major deliver all of this, even though some bodies, partners in the NBN to view it from merely like the British Trust for Ornithology, have their own perspective. So far, the NBN has performed wonders in getting an army of been a robust partnership which has volunteers focused in a scientifically responded well to the needs of this diversity. meaningful way to deliver information. The The future, with the current proposals for the NBN, therefore, needs to be a mechanism establishment of the NBN Trust, will, for allowing even better delivery. It must not hopefully, be equally responsive to the needs be a burden on the amateur, nor must it be a of the individual naturalist, as well as to leviathan which will rapidly get out-of-date. It those of the larger institutions. must be a means of channelling information Work on the NBN may appear to be slow, effectively and flexibly from producer to user, but another matter which must be and to allow bodies involved to react rapidly remembered is the rapid pace of change, not to potential demand. only in the power of data management Where does the NFBR sit in all of this? I technology, but also in the role and needs for believe we must take an active role in biological survey and monitoring. There is a drawing in all those disparate bodies which danger that various parts of the biological deal in biological information, and, more data infrastructure will get seriously out of importantly, a wide range of individual step. The NBN cannot, therefore, be a once- practitioners themselves, to continually and-for-all “fix” of the problems as perceived review and debate needs and concerns. For even when the NFBR was established. Even this reason, I would suggest that the NFBR the development of the new Recorder 2000 ought to have representation from a very (or whatever it is called) software will only be wide range of its sister organisations, 3 NFBR Newsletter 25 : August 1999 because, through its position in the NBN, it is individuals to ensure it remains relevant. The able to focus these concerns. When the NBN NFBR is a channel through which these Trust is set up, it is essential that all such representations can be made. participating bodies should have a say in the Trevor James (Chairperson, NFBR) way the system runs. While the NBN Trust Head of Ecology, Hertfordshire Biological will be autonomous, it will need to have clear Records Centre. links with a wide range of organisations and Recorder 2000 – an update The first test version of the entry screens and receive the next payment under the terms of dictionaries was delivered on 5th July and the contract. we have spent two hectic weeks testing it Meanwhile, we have another delivery on and collating "incident reports" to go back to Monday (19th July) of a test version covering the suppliers. These describe the bugs and import, export and mapping functionality. things that don't work as they should. I think Charles Copp's comment sums it up nicely: Work has continued on facilities to export "There is much that is good, but what we data from Recorder 3.3. and Biobase. have is not yet at beta test level with too Versions of these routines, written by myself many fixes done in a panic." We eventually for Recorder and Mike Thurner for Biobase, submitted 75 incident reports covering have been produced and transfer to around 300 separate items. The developers, Recorder 2000 will be tested during August. Dorset Software Services Ltd., are due to Stuart Ball, JNCC have fixed these by early August in order to NBN News – Delivering Wildlife Information Bookings are being taken for a seminar to be Rachel Hackett, held at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham on th The Wildlife Trusts UK National Office, The Tuesday 14 September. The day will Kiln, Waterside, Mather Road, Newark, involve presentations, workshops and Nottinghamshire NG24 1WT.