Submitted by AJ Cann on Wed, 03/01/2018 - 17:09

Mind The Gaps

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No matter which taxon you look at - plants, insects, fungi or whatever, recording of species across Leicestershire and Rutland is not evenly distributed. Interesting, all the groups have much the same gaps - areas which are chronically under-recorded. There are multiple reasons for this, public access and agricultural intensity are two of them. Certainly the missing areas do not contain any nature reserves, which attract recorders like, well, bees round a honeypot. In the past NatureSpot attempted to promote an "adopt a tetrad" scheme, but this didn't have very much impact. The South East Wales Biodiversity Records Centre runs a "Square of the Month" scheme designed to tackle this problem, and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland directs its field trips towards designated locations to try to ensure even coverage of records. If there was enough enthusiasm, we could form a hit squad and all descend on the blank areas on a given day, but it's likely to be difficult to get people to sign up for this (unless someone want to organize some outings via the forums?). So we are left with the gaps in our records. Does this matter? And if it does, can the problem be solved?

If you're the sort of person who goes in for New Year Resolutions, how about this one? Take a look at the map, then decide to visit one of the gaps. At least once. Record anything you like - record what you like - birds, plants, whatever. And then send us your records. And in a year's time, we'll look at the gaps again.

 

Comments

Submitted by G D McPhail on Wed, 03/01/2018 - 20:14

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I had a look but would like to be able to zoom in to see more detail in the map. To be able to target the areas on a map so I can plan a walk that will go over the under recorded area.

Thanks

If you go to "Explore All Records", at about the middle level of zoom it reproduces this map.  You can zoom in further from there to get more detail (but the squares showing records get smaller too).

Submitted by Peter Smith on Thu, 04/01/2018 - 21:50

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I filled one of the gaps with some records in Ellis Park, Oadby today.  Mostly common species but I found a gall that was new to me (Aceria genistae) so it was a worthwhile stop.