You don’t have to be an expert to start recording wildlife. There is lots of help out there to get you started. Read on to find out how.
We would love to know more about the wildlife that is using the spaces we are creating and improving, and to do that we need your eyes and ears on the ground. Whether you want to record wildflowers that start to appear in a road verge or meadow each year, or birds you see using your garden, whether you record something every day or once in a blue moon, it all helps.
And if you are more interested in learning how to identify things than just recording them, well, starting to record using one of the apps below is a really good way to do this, because the internet is full of wonderful strangers who can help you to identify what you’ve seen.
There are two apps we recommend. For beginners or those who might need help with identification – use iNaturalist. You can upload information here, alongside pictures and recorded sounds, and even if you only know it is a bird, others may be able to help you identify it to make a more accurate record. Using the app on your phone is easiest for recording while you are out and about, but once you have an account you can also log-in on the website.
More experienced recorders may want to use iRecord, or perhaps you already do, but would like your records to also contribute to our project’s knowledge.
Instructions
iNaturalist
If you don’t have an account then download the iNaturalist app and/or visit the iNaturalist website and create an account.
Once you have an account, or if you already have an account and wish to ensure your Hexham records get to us (which we’d appreciate), please log in on the web version and join the project which you can do using this link: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/hexham-space-for-nature.
Once you have joined, you can upload records to this project using the app on your phone. Fill in the information about what you saw, when you saw it, and where (or use the phone’s location service), and then click ‘Add to project’ and chose Hexham Space for Nature.
iRecord
If you don’t have an account then download the iRecord app and/or visit the iRecord website and create an account.
Once you have an account, or if you already have an account and wish to ensure your Hexham records get to us (which we’d appreciate), please log in on the web version and choose ‘Activities’. Choose ‘Browse all activities’ and type Hexham Space for Nature into the search bar. Then choose the activity using the star button, and then select join. You will then be able to select this ‘activity’ when recording in future on the web or on the app.
When you want to record, go to Activities and choose Hexham Space for Nature. Any records you upload on the app or the website will then go to the project.
Our project gives you three options for recording:
• ‘Enter a record’ is for sightings of a single species at one location on one date (the + button on the app)
• ‘Enter a list of records’ is for sightings of multiple species at one location on one date (long hold the + button and select “Species List Survey on the app)
• ‘Enter a list of records for several sites on a date’ is for records across multiple locations (web only)
The information you need to fill in for your record includes: what species you saw (ideally attach a photo – this helps to verify the record), when you saw it, and where you saw it. You can do this by using your phone’s location or just by clicking on the map. There are optional fields you can fill in as well.
Transition Tynedale 