Biological Records

If you are interested in nature, you might like to join the many volunteers who record their sightings. By recording and sharing what we see, we gather essential information that can contribute to conservation efforts., research, and policy making.

Don’t worry if you are new to recording as there are many identification aids and experts, both inside and outside of Prestwood Nature, who are willing to help you.

You can become involved through iRecord or by joining our Butterfly Transect.

iRecord - Prestwood Nature Activity

This is the iRecord summary of sightings recorded by people in our area.   If you don’t already, why not subscribe to our Prestwood Nature iRecord Activity.  Details of how you can help are given below.

How to record your sightings on iRecord

Records in iRecord are available to National Recording Schemes, Local Environmental Record Centres and can be shared with the NBN Atlas, the UK’s largest collection of biodiversity data. Submitting your records through the Prestwood Nature iRecord Activity will enable us to download records submitted to the site, as well as ensuring your records are available to the wider community.

First of all create an iRecord account, if you do not have one already. Once logged in, find and click on Activities on the navigation bar. Click Browse all activities and search for Prestwood Nature and click go. The Prestwood Nature Activity should come up. Click on the Star button which will direct you to a new page, click the Join button. Prestwood Nature will now be added to your activities.

The best way to start recording is to take photos of the species you find. This will help experts to verify your records. To enter a casual record, Select Record > Enter a casual record from the main menu. Click Yes to post to Prestwood Nature, then complete the boxes on the screen and upload any photos you’ve taken. The boxes which have a red asterix (*) next to them are compulsory and you will not be able to save the record without completing them. The rest are optional, although the more you can complete, the greater the value of the record.

For more information on how to use iRecord, please check out their guide on getting started. A number of video guides are also available. Further help is available for Prestwood Nature Members by contacting biorecords@prestwoodnature.org

Prestwood Nature Butterfly Transect

Prestwood Nature have carried out a UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme transect since 2006. For more information, please see our transect web pages. If you are interested in taking part, please contact butterflies@prestwoodnature.org