Inspiring Londoners to discover, record and protect wildlife
The Biological Recording Company designs and delivers natural history training and biological recording programmes across London, helping people develop wildlife identification skills, contribute valuable biological records, and engage with the capital’s remarkable biodiversity.
Our programmes are delivered by our in-house Naturalists, Keiron Brown and Joss Carr, who have extensive experience working with London’s wildlife, volunteers, and recording community. Together, they design and deliver programmes for local authorities, environmental organisations, community groups and members of the public, creating lasting benefits for both people and nature.
We can design a London recording and training programme tailored to your organisation’s objectives.
Field Recorder Days
Building natural history skills and strengthening London’s records
Field Recorder Days are guided wildlife recording events that bring people together to explore, identify, and record wildlife in parks, nature reserves, and other green spaces. Suitable for beginners and experienced naturalists alike, each event is tailored to the site, audience, and project objectives.
Our Field Recorder Days can help you to:
- Engage local communities with wildlife and nature conservation.
- Develop species identification and biological recording skills.
- Train and support volunteers taking part in recording projects.
- Generate high-quality biological records to support conservation and decision-making.
Each Field Recorder Day is led by one of our team of specialist tutors, selected to match the habitats, wildlife and objectives of your event. We currently deliver Field Recorder Days covering subjects including entomology, botany, fungi, molluscs, earthworms and plant galls, and can commission additional specialist tutors to develop bespoke events covering other taxonomic groups.
Field Recorder Day projects
Ealing Beaver Project – Since 2023, we have been delivering a programme of Field Recorder Days at Paradise Fields in Ealing, the famous rewilding site home to the UK’s first urban beaver population. We are engaging local people in the wildlife of this site and see how the fauna and flora changes over time following the reintroduction of this keystone mammal.
Hammersmith & Fulham Biological Recording Project – In 2026 we are delivering a programme of Field Recorder Days across green spaces in the London borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, encouraging residents to explore and record local wildlife through training and biological recording activities, and helping build local recording capacity.
Hogsmill Valley Biological Recording Project – Between 2023 and 2025 we have delivered Field Recorder Days across the green spaces along the Hogsmill River, in the London Borough of Kingston, generating valuable biological records and engaging local volunteer networks.
Lesnes 500 – 500 years since the dissolution of Lesnes Abbey and 100 years since the publication of a landmark book on the site’s natural history, we ran a series of Field Recorder Days at Lesnes Abbey Woods to engage local people and update our knowledge of the site’s wildlife.
Wild Tolworth Biological Recording – In 2024 and 2025 we delivered a number of biological recording events at Tolworth Court Farm, in the London Borough of Kingston, to help monitor the impacts of the various rewilding interventions occurring on site, with a specific focus on invertebrates.
Training Courses
Structured learning pathways that build knowledge, skills, and confidence
Our Training Courses provide a clear progression from introductory to advanced natural history skills. Courses are categorised into five experience levels, making it easy to choose training that matches existing knowledge and identify the next step in a learner’s journey.
Our Training Courses can help you to:
- Develop species identification skills.
- Build confidence in biological recording.
- Learn ecological survey techniques.
- Progress through structured natural history learning pathways.
- Support volunteer, staff and professional development.
Our growing programme of training courses covers a diverse range of subjects, from introductory courses such as Biological Recording 101, Invertebrates for Beginners and Botany for Beginners, through to more specialist training including Winter Tree Identification, Urban Grassland Conservation and Mining Bee Identification. Courses are delivered by our in-house naturalists and team of specialist tutors and can be tailored to the needs of organisations and projects.
As a demonstration of our training pathway model, please see the Spider Identification Training Pathway below. Traditional courses, online courses, Field Recorder Days, and Specimen Study Days can be combined to support learners as they progress from introductory knowledge to advanced identification skills.
London training projects
Barnet Green Spaces Network Training – In 2025 we delivered a series of training workshops and online training to improve the identification, survey, and conservation skills of members of the Barnet Green Spaces Network.
Southwark Biological Recording Project – In 2025 we worked with Southwark council to help residents discover and record local wildlife through natural history training and biological recording events, improving knowledge of the borough’s biodiversity and generating new records for green spaces across the borough.
Specimen Study Days
Hands-on identification sessions using real specimens and specialist equipment
Specimen Study Days provide opportunities for participants to develop their identification skills by examining specimens alongside experienced naturalists and specialist tutors.
Held in an informal and collaborative environment, our Specimen Study Days can help you to:
- Develop practical species identification skills and learn to use ID keys.
- Learn from experienced naturalists and specialist tutors.
- Examine specimens that are difficult to identify in the field.
- Share knowledge with fellow recorders in a collaborative learning environment.
Our Specimen Study Days can focus on a wide variety of taxonomic groups, including invertebrates, plants, or fungi. They can also be tailored to meet the objectives of individual organisations, recording groups, or projects.
Specimen Study Day projects
LNHS Invertebrate Study Days – Delivered in partnership with the London Natural History Society at the Natural History Museum, our Invertebrate Study Days are free monthly events helps naturalists develop identification skills through collaborative specimen-based practical experience.
Engagement Sessions
Accessible introductions to wildlife and biological recording
Our Engagement Sessions provide short, interactive introductions to natural history and biological recording for community groups and public audiences. Delivered as standalone events or as part of BioBlitzes and other public engagement activities, they are designed to inspire curiosity and encourage people to take their first steps into wildlife recording.
Our Engagement Sessions can help you to:
- Introduce people to biological recording.
- Engage communities with local wildlife.
- Support BioBlitzes and public events.
- Inspire participation in nature conservation.
Sessions are delivered by our in-house Naturalists and can be tailored to a wide range of audiences and topics. For example, our Discovering iNaturalist session introduces participants to biological recording and the iNaturalist app, while Discovering Invertebrates is a guided walk introducing participants to the diversity of London’s invertebrates.
Our Commitment to GiGL
The Biological Recording Company is committed to strengthening biological recording across Greater London and supporting the work of the Greenspace Information for Greater London (GiGL), London’s Local Environmental Records Centre.
Biological records collected through our Field Recorder Days, training courses and other recording activities are submitted to iRecord, where they are available to GiGL and the relevant National Recording Schemes and Societies. This ensures that records generated through our programmes contribute to local and national datasets used for conservation, research, planning and decision-making.
Let’s Work Together
Whether you’re planning a community engagement programme, volunteer training initiative or borough-wide biological recording project, we can design and deliver activities tailored to your objectives across Greater London.
Free Newsletter
Sign up to receive updates about London’s wildlife, Field Recorder Days, training courses, biological recording projects and upcoming events.
