Species and habitat data are used to help make management decisions for reserves and target any rare, protected or invasive species.
The Trust commissions surveys and monitoring regimes on a regular basis, but also collects single species observations and site visit lists. To make this valuable data more accessible and make better use of it, species records are entered into a database, Recorder 6 (the national standard recording software).
Improvement of data quality is ongoing, following the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Guidelines and Data Flow Pathway.
Access to our data
We believe in open access to data unless there is a good reason to restrict it. Full details of all the Trust’s species data is made available to both decision-makers and the public on the NBN Atlas, with the exception of records for species listed as sensitive by Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), where access is restricted.
These species, such as raptors, badgers and otters, are at risk from public disturbance and such data will only be passed on to approved persons. Species data will also be available to Local Records Centres where they exist for full collation into their systems. For further information, please see our Biodiversity Data Access Policy (currently under revision).
