Getting started

Want to survey a woodland habitat? Photo by Richard Osbourne 1/3
Want to do a bird survey? Photo by Thea Nicholls 2/3
Want to do a butterfly survey? Photo by Elizabeth Dack 3/3
You do not have to be an expert to make a valuable contribution to local knowledge of Norfolk’s wildlife. Watching wildlife, whether in your garden, a local park or on a walk you regularly do, adds to the pleasure of being out and about. You may even find recording wildlife becomes the perfect excuse to explore your local area and spend more time outdoors.

In every area of Norfolk there are opportunities to explore and discover wildlife that nobody else knows about. The wildlife of Norfolk has changed greatly over recent decades and continues to do so today. It is only when individuals note what they see that the evidence of new species colonising an area, or familiar ones becoming rarer or vanishing is known.

Wildlife recording made easy: the essentials of any wildlife record are what, where, when and who

What

You need to be certain of the correct identification of what you record. As a rule of thumb: ‘If in doubt, leave it out!’

However, this does not mean you have to be an expert in identification. Recording familiar species such as house sparrows, hedgehogs and bluebells, or just the distinctive species that you can recognise really easily, can still be incredibly valuable. The ‘experts’ are not very good at recording the commonplace and sadly it is not until species become rare that many people start to look out for them.

You do not need to be a great botanist to recognise a bluebell or a common poppy but does anyone know where all the bluebell woods or poppy fields are? Many useful surveys involve just keeping records of a single species –so if you can recognise a barn owl or a brown hare – then you can easily begin to keep a record of all your sightings.


Where

Records can simply be linked to a place name or parish but it is even better to record onto a map, or to give a map/grid reference. In general, the more precise the location the more valuable the information may be in the future.

Plotting records onto a map, or giving a six figure grid reference, makes it possible for your records to be added to county-wide or national surveys which are often based on Ordnance Survey (OS) map squares. A village, parish or even a large wood or common may cover more than one map square, so giving a map reference as well as a place name is really helpful. If you are recording on a small site – for example your garden, village green or school grounds – then a single grid reference at the centre of the site will be sufficient for most kinds of survey.


When

Tthis is easy as long as you remember to make a note on the day you see things! Do remember to include the year as well as the day and month. If you, or someone else, is looking back at them in future years then ’10 July’ may not be enough.


Who

Another easy one, but it is good practice, and will add to the future interest of the record, if sightings can be linked to the individual who made them.

If someone else confirmed your identification then this is also worth noting – ‘identification confirmed by...’. This will be especially important if the record is unusual – e.g. a rarity which has not been recorded in the area before, a particularly difficult species to identify, or a record in an unexpected place or at an odd time of year, such as a swallow in December!