Recording Wildlife

We very much welcome your records of wildlife found on both our reserves and the wider countryside. Here in Radnorshire we are known as Vice County 43. The records you send us are verified by the county recorders and then collated by the Biodiversity Information Service (BIS) in Brecon. They are useful for various purposes, like:

• Supporting data for surveys required for planning applications, like new roads, housing or change of land use (especially protected species)
• Tracking the change in distribution of a particular species,  for example in response to climate change, or the invasion of a non-native species or disease across the country
• Finding out what is where! The records for common species are ridiculously scarce - is this because they are actually rare or that we haven't recorded them?

Please make a record

You can do this by filling in one of the recorder forms on the left-hand column. The forms require some details of your sighting (what, where, when) and your name (which will go on the database). Your record will be verified by the county recorder (the local expert for that species) who may want to get back to you if it is particularly rare or unusual in that location. It will then become part of history!

If you are not sure which form to use, just fill in the 'general sightings' form and it will be forwarded to the appropriate county recorder. We also have paper copies in the Radnorshire Wildlife Trust office if you prefer.

The Wye and Usk Foundation are trying to deal with river-bank invasive species like Japanese knotweed and giant hogweed. If you find these, please contact them directly via their website.

Having trouble with identification?

With the internet at our fingertips, there are now some great sites to help with identification. A few are listed below.

Please let us know if a link doesn't work or you know a better one!

British Dragonfly Society - look under 'dragonflies' for the ID section. You can submit a record under 'recording' and it will get sent to our Radnorshire dragonfly recorder.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust - useful diagrams of bumblebee 'stripes'.

Butterfly Conservation - for butterflies and moths

Moths UK is also recommended for helping with ID. We have a very active moth group in Radnorshire thanks to Pete and Ginny. Because moths have been under-recorded, they are constantly finding new moths for the county records!

Radnorshire Mammal Group - you are welcome to send Sorcha a photo to ID. Alternatively have a look at the Mammal Society website.

Amphibians and Reptile Conservation - look under 'the animals' for ID.

Botanical Society of the British Isles - for plant ID and much more.

Non-native Species Secretariat - some excellent ID sheets to help identify things like problem pond plants, mink, giant hogweed and other non-natives.

For birds, the RSPB website has photos and sound clips to help ID song.

A useful general site with ID keys to more difficult species like invertebrates, links to other websites and 'get-involved' opportunities is i-spot. You can also post photos for other people to ID for you.

The ARKive website - "images of life on earth" has a fantastic range of photos, film clips and information of many different species - type your species into the search box.

Want some help getting grid references?

There are a few websites which can help with this. One is 'Where's the path' which shows Ordnance Survey maps with google earth alongside. The five figure grid ref shown at the bottom indicates the place your cursor is. Start by typing in the nearest village to your location.