County firsts!

First county records can sometimes be like London buses. You wait in vain for ages, and then two or sometimes three come along all at once!

This is certainly the case this year with bats in Brecknock (Vice County 42). First we have the discovery of a serotine bat, Eptesicus serotinus, by David Lewns in a tree near Llyswen. The animal in question was identified by examination of its skull, the bat having been dead for some time. The serotine has troubled bat workers in the area for many years. The first Welsh record for the species comes from Vice County 43, Radnorshire as long ago as 1985, when John Messenger found a pregnant female at Penybont. The species has been heard a number of times on bat detectors around Hay-on-Wye and Abernant, but in these cases we either couldn’t be sure which side of the river they were on, or they were heterodyne identifications, not sufficiently good enough to be used as county records.

Hot on the heels of the first serotine comes another apparent first for Brecknock with a time expansion recording of Nathusius’s pipistrelle, Pipistrellus nathusii, near Bwlch. Time expansion recording preserves all the characteristics of a bat echo-location call and the recordings can be fed into a computer, producing a sonogram for analysis. In this case the recording was made by Diane Morgan, the co-ordinator for Brecknock Bat Group. The record in this case was verified by John Messenger.

Nathusius’s pipistrelle is a relative newcomer to Wales. The first record for the species comes from 1994, when Bob Stebbings confirmed the presence of one at Stackpole, Pembrokeshire (Vice County 45). There were no further records for the species in Wales until 2002 when literally within days of each other Ian Davidson-Watts and I recorded this large pipistrelle at two widely separated locations. I got mine at Skenfrith Castle (Monmouthshire, VC35) and Ian got his at Margam Park, Glamorganshire (VC41). Since then I have also recorded the species at Hensol Castle (Glamorganshire) in 2004.

So, two new county firsts in short order, or is it…you know when you think that you’ve gotten to the bottom of something and then someone says ah…but. Well I was just finishing this article off in the office when Robert, who does out time expansion recording analysis, was going through some old discs left on one side from the summer of 2006. There in amongst these recordings was a very clear sonogram for a Nathusius’s pipistrelle from Halfway. Now Diane was again the recorder, so no problem there. However, we just need to check which side of the county line it was, Brecknock, or Carmarthenshire (VC44)…see what I mean, nothing for ages and then….

Phil Morgan

County Mammal Recorder, Brecknock (VC42)

All-Wales LRC network is launched

A report by Rob Davies, Manager West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre.

Representatives from the major conservation groups across Wales gathered at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff on Wednesday 28th November 2007 to celebrate the completion of a Wales-wide network of Local Records Centres. Various speakers were introduced by chair Paul Lovelock (President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum) to present the views of the major stakeholders in this exercise:

• Dr David Parker (Director of Science, CCW) explained how LRCs can deliver many information objectives on behalf of the Countryside Council For Wales and its significance for the National Biodiversity Network.
• Jane Davidson (Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Welsh Assembly Government) gave glowing praise for the achievement of the LRC network and highlighted its importance within the national strategy

Jane Davidson (Photo: Dave Cope)

• Paul Sinnudurai (Senior Ecologist and Policy Officer, Brecon Beacons National Park) gave a case history for the close workings of a National Park and a LRC (BIS)
• David Clements (Managing director of David Clements Ecology) clearly showed the benefits of a private consultant making full use of SEWBReC
• Barry Stewart (West Glamorganshire County Moth Recorder) gave an honest account from the Recorder's perspective, explaining what the costs were in relinquishing data and how this had been
  outweighed by the overall benefits of help with the recording process
• Derek Moore (OBE, WWBIC Director) gave a brilliant overview which looked at the long and celebrated history of biological recording in Britain with great anecdotes of "what makes recorders tick".

Derek called on the Welsh Assembly Government not to underestimate this enormous army of voluntary recorders and to keep the LRCs fully supported. Topics for discussion included who should handle marine data and it was suggested that LRCs played a greater role in informing the agricultural community. Paul Lovelock summed up the occasion admirably and made his
personal plea that the Pembrokeshire Islands achieve World Heritage status.

As the UKBAP 2010 deadline for reversing the loss of biodiversity, draws near, governing bodies are under increasing legal pressure to have regard for biodiversity in all forms of land use planning and environmental management, and conservation agencies are having to work harder and more strategically to deliver positive results. In the past it has been extremely difficult
for both to do this because the exponential growth in biodiversity information has been locked up on paper, in filing cabinets, and in the personal knowledge banks of a multitude of disparate individuals.

For the whole of Wales these information silos have now been freed up by LRCs, computerised and made readily reportable from four regional spatial databases so that decisions which affect land use and conservation across the whole of Wales, whether by individual landowners or great government agencies, may now be made in light of the best available information on species, habitats and protected areas.

We also held the first meeting of the Chairs and Managers of all four Wales LRCs in Cardiff the day before the launch. All four LRCs have clearly benefitted for the spirit of cooperation that exists within this group.

BIS Datasets

The list of datasets held by BIS has been updated to show records held in November 2009.Go to Records and Data/Datasets held by BIS

BIS Events 2010

BIS will be running some biological recording training days and field recording days again in 2010. Download enclosed pdf for information on training days etc in first half of 2010.

BIS Events 2010

Please see the BIS May 2010 newsletter or our Events calendar for updates on all BIS training and field days over the summer.Contact Phil Ward at BIS for further details and booking

BIS Recorders Forum 2009

RHAYADER LEISURE CENTRE: SATURDAY 31st OCTOBER 2009

Bookings are now being taken for the forthcoming Forum meeting of the biological recorders of Powys and Brecon Beacons National Park. See enclosed  programme for the event and a booking slip below.

This event is being organised by the Biodiversity Information Service for Powys and Brecon Beacons National Park (BIS) to provide local voluntary recorders with an annual get together, exchange information, share views, encourage recorder presentations, and for BIS to provide updates and discussion for recorders.

In the morning session we will concentrate mainly on the progress of BIS, training, and GIS mapping. There will be plenty of time allowed for feedback and discussion with recorders on these topics at the end of each session. This will be followed by four recorder presentations through into the afternoon, covering a wide range of subjects of interest to all. 

As always at these events there will be time for informal discussions and a complimentary buffet lunch. The costs of the event are kindly being met by the Brecon Beacons National Park Authority.

If you wish to attend please fill in the booking form and return to Phil Ward at BIS.

BIS Recorders Newsletter May 2010

The latest  BIS recorders newsletter is avaialble to download.

BIS Recorders Newsletter November 2009

The autumn edition of the Recorders newsletter is now ready to download.

BIS welcomes new staff member

We welcome Michelle Wienhold to BIS in the new position of Data Officer.

Michelle graduated from the University of Iowa in 2000 with a BA in Anthropology. Before moving to the UK, she worked for 7 years as a field archaeologist in the Midwest and Southwest United States. Her primary responsibilities included using GIS to study and analyse archaeological datasets and managing data collection in the field. Michelle completed her M.Sc. in GIS and Spatial Analysis in Archaeology at UCL’s Institute of Archaeology in 2008.  Her main research interests include erosion, hydrological and predictive modelling, applied cartography and LiDAR analysis.

Michelle will lead on managing the BIS spatial species and habitat datasets, and analysis and predictive modelling projects.

CCW Data mobilised by BIS on NBN Gateway

Over the last 8 years BIS has been working intermittently on a project to mobilise all the data held by CCW in the Powys and BBNP area. BIS finished that project in 2009 and now holds about 600,000 of  those records  in its database.

It is CCW policy that all publicly gathered  data should be available at full resolution on NBN Gateway unless they are 'sensitive' species, which will be available publicly at a lower resolution. BIS is working with CCW to put the higher plant records onto NBN Gateway shortly and then all the records will be put up in 2010.

Most of these records are made by CCW staff or from surveys commissioned by CCW, however some of the records may have been provided by private individuals to help the nature conservation work of CCW.  On NBN Gateway the records will show the species name, grid reference, location, date and the survey name held in Recorder 6. CCW has not previously made the recorders name publicly available when they have put their HQ datasets onto Gateway. At BIS we feel that the recorders name should be included, as it indicates the recorders intellectual property rights and makes the record more meaningful.

BIS proposes to make the recorders name publicly available when it uploads these CCW records to NBN Gateway unless any recorder requests us not to. If you may have contributed records to CCW could you please let BIS know if you are not happy to have your name shown as part of the public record on NBN Gateway.

Radnorshire (VC43) Dragonfly newsletter 2009

The Radnorshire Dragonfly 2009 newsletter and Recording events 2009 has just been released by Bob Dennison. It includes a list of species recorded in VC43 over the past year. Also included is a 10km grid map of Radnorshire. Download both as pdf by clicking on links

Distribution maps of species records held at BIS

At the recent BIS Recorders Forum we displayed a range of distribution maps, produced from ArcView, which show the number of records held by BIS on a 1km square basis in November 2008. These were also broken down into some of the major taxon groups for Vascular plants,lower plants, birds. They can now be viewed as pdf files.Go to Records and Data in the left hand menu.

BIS Wildlife Recording Training Days Program 2009

Phil Ward (BIS Biodiversity Recording Officer) has now finalised the Wildlife Recording Training Days' program which is a series of 7 training days on  identification and recording of a range of wildlife groups, in venues all over Powys.

This is the first time BIS has been able to set up such a project and  has been made possible by funding from the Welsh Biodiversity Partnership to all 4 Local Record Centres in Wales, to  promote recording and understanding of local biodiversity. Thanks also go to all the trainers who have agreed to take part and give of their time and expertise.

The first day  on the 25th April 2009 involves  Identification of Amphibians and Pond Insects the Mountain Centre, Libanus. Booking will be essential for all the training days.

For further details of all the training days download attatched program or contact BIS