Welcome to our news page. If you have a news item that you would like added to this page please contact us.
The Mid Wales Red Squirrel Partnership (MWRSP) website is now live. MWRSP was established in 2002.
The Partnership aims to expand and protect the unique population of red
squirrels in mid Wales; one of only three significant red squirrel
populations in the whole of Wales.
The map of red squirrel sightings includes historical records populated from the LRC Wales merged database from BIS, SEWBReC and WWBIC. Records entered on-line will be exchanged with the LRCs.... more
The Welsh Assembly’s
Environment and Sustainability Committee is consulting on the Environment
(Wales) Bill.
As part of the consultation the Committee want to hear
the views of the people of Wales on different aspects of the Bill through a
survey which asks a range of questions on environmental issues, from climate
change, nature conservation, recycling and the five pence plastic bag charge.
A
link to the English and Welsh survey are below:
https://www.surveymonke... more
The University of Reading is looking for recorders and naturalists in the Powys area to become
involved with and contribute to the Powdery Mildew Project being run by Oli Ellingham. On receipt of specimens of mildewed leaves Oli will DNA sequence them and then provide identifications to the specimen provider which obviously can then be put into BIS's database. A good way of obtaining records for a very under-recorded group.
Please see Oli's webpages with instructions for sending specimens at the... more
The
Natural History Museum (in partnership with Oxford Uni) has launched a new
citizen science project - ‘Orchid Observers’. They’re looking for
people to help gather data on 29 species of orchids across the UK (by taking
photos of any orchids you see, with date & location & then uploading
them via the project’s website). There are orchid identification tools on line
(but ID is optional).
Recent
research has indicated that climate change is affecting the
flo... more
The scheme asks for volunteers across the United Kingdom to
visit a kilometre square local to them and record the plants they find
there in several
different plots. The scheme will enable us to explore how
plants in different habitats are responding to changes in the environment. More
information about the scheme can be found at www.npms.org.uk
The Data Access Tool (DAT)
is a joint project between the four Local Records Centres in Wales, aimed at
presenting our data in a usable and user friendly manner for the wildlife recording
community.
In conjunction with the other welsh LRCs BIS has developed a system to merge the 4 species databases.
This will now be the basis to uodate and improve the DAT for public and partner access to the data. The first step has been to improve the speed of species records distribution maps.
Go to http... more
With support from the Welsh Government’s
Nature Fund the Long
Forest Community Hedgerow Project in the Brecon Beacons NP area is currently planning 1 or 2 day practical training
for beginners/improvers in:
§
Traditional hedge-laying
§
Coppicing and infilling
§
Hedgerow surveying and wildlife recording
This training will be free of charge to participants and
we’ll have a limited number of places for trainees at each session. The
co... more
BIS has loaded the micro-moth records from the 3 Vice-county recorders onto NBN Gateway to add to the national distribution information. These are verified records and are available for public access at 1km square resolution.
Grow Wild has thousands of free seed kits to share so people can transform their local spaces into beautiful, inspiring and colourful wild flower havens. Supported by the Big Lottery Fund and led by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Grow Wild is an exciting four-year programme that will bring people together to sow UK native wild flowers. Grow Wild believes that together we can transform and bring colour to where we live: turning unloved spaces into wildlife-friendly wild flower havens.
Join one of the... more
Identification Trainers for the Future is a new work-based training programme for individuals who would like to develop a career in the UK biodiversity sector. It aims to address the critical and growing shortage of wildlife identification and recording skills.The programme is led by the Museum in partnership with the Field Studies Council and National Biodiversity Network Trust.
