Several new data entry forms have been added to iRecord recently in response to user requests. These offer increasing flexibility to accommodate the many different ways in which people record wildlife. Some are tailored to particular survey methodologies, others to particular species groups or sites. Examples include:
• Multi-site lists form, which enables recorders to enter records from several sites they visited on the same date by adding the records directly to an interactive map. They can move records around on the map, edit them and delete them.
• Intertidal recording form, which allows users to record against biotopes from JNCC’s Marine Habitat Classification System, to record species abundance using a version of the SACFOR scale developed for the Marine Nature Conservation Review and to note the zone of the shore where each species was found, from the strandline to upper sublittoral zone which is exposed at the lowest spring tides.
• Forms created for particular sites, such as the National Trust properties, Golden Cap Estate and Burton Bradstock in Dorset and the St Abbs and Eyemouth Voluntary Marine Reserve in South East Scotland.
• Forms created for special surveys and citizen science projects, for example the Bristol 99 Festival of Nature or Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Developing Ecological Surveying Skills (DESS) project.
• Forms created for particular species or groups of species, such as the ladybird recording form and a new form which provides a quick way of entering a list of moth records for a single site, date and recording method.
Multi site lists form
Training material
If you have not yet used iRecord and would like to have a go, there is now a user-friendly set of training materials available to help you get started. These include short videos and slide shows as well as a step-by-step manual, which is available to download as a PDF file. You can access the new training materials online or download them. There is also an excellent video prepared by Martin Harvey of iSpot on how to use iRecord to verify records, which you can see below or watch here.
You can see all of the training materials here on the NBN website too.