Biological recording is the scientific practice of finding, identifying and recording the presence of living organisms, helping us to understand the distribution, abundance, associations and changes, both in time and space, of wildlife. Biological records are the bedrock of conservation science – essential for a wide range of conservation actions from assessing the impact of planning applications to undertaking conservation status assessments for species.

This course prepares those new to biological recording with an understanding of how biological recording works and how casual species observations can be converted into useful biodiversity datasets. Students will undertake a simple field recording activity and submit their data through the iRecord platform, generating real biological records as they learn.

What will be covered during this course?

• Demonstrations of how various iRecord features can be used to get the most out of recording local sites and group activities.
• An introduction to the science of biological recording and the importance of biodiversity data.
• Practical experience of gathering species records in the field and the core data required for any biological record.
• Using iRecord to submit records, share data with other organisations and maintain a personal records database.

Biological recording guidance

The following 2 Field Studies Guidance Notes were produced by the FSC BioLinks project and provide useful introductions to both biological recording and grid references.

Other useful links include:

• What is A Biological Record?: https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/biologicalrecord101/
• Record Resolution: https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/recordresolution/
• Data Quality: https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/dataquality/
• Make Your Wildlife Observations Count blog:
  https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/2022/11/01/make-your-wildlife-observations-count/

iRecord guidance

Below you will find a step-by-step guidance document to set up an account on iRecord.

Other useful links include:

• iRecord: https://irecord.org.uk/
• iRecord: An Introduction: https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/irecord-intro/
• iRecord: Tools for Recorders: https://biologicalrecording.co.uk/irecord-tools-for-recorders/
• iRecord User Guide: https://irecord.org.uk/help/user-guide
• iRecord Help Pages: https://irecord.org.uk/help
• Why iRecord? (Natural History Live webinar): https://youtu.be/RRoqwE7opzQ
• Setting up an iRecord Activity for Local Groups (Natural History Live webinar): https://youtu.be/uH0oS9Axd14

iRecord 101 online course

Learn the fundamentals of biological recording and how to use iRecord to submit and share wildlife observations on our iRecord 101 online training course. Discover how your species records support biodiversity research, conservation, and environmental decision-making across the UK.

As a student of our in-person Biological Recording 101 training course, you can purchase this course for half price (that’s just £12.50) by using the code grad26 during checkout: https://courses.biologicalrecording.co.uk/courses/iRecord-101

This course consists of biological recording guidance followed by two pre-recorded 1-hour presentation with Keiron Brown, alongside associated Q&As with the tutor and quizzes to test your understanding of the content. These webinars formed part of the Skills For Ecology series and were delivered to live audiences in 2024 to 2026.

• Biological Recording 101 covered what the minimum required information is to generate a biological record, and delve into concepts such as record resolution, data quality and data flow.
  The content from this webinar has been updated and converted into a series of short videos with accompanying text.
• Using Wildlife Observation Apps delves into the pros and cons of using various wildlife observation apps for recording wildlife, and learn how they interact with one another.
• iRecord 101 introduces the iRecord online wildlife recording application and how to use it to collate site biodiversity data.