Behind the Scenes at ERIC North East Consultants Forum 26 th October - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Behind the Scenes at ERIC North East Consultants’ Forum

26th October 2012 Katherine Pinnock ERIC North East Coordinator

Who are we?

Katherine Pinnock ERIC North East Coordinator Laura Laffler & Susan Keeton ERIC North East Project Officers Based at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle

What is a local environmental records centre?

• Local Records Centres (LRCs) are organisations that

collect, collate, manage and disseminate information relating to the biodiversity and geodiversity of a region on a not-for-profit basis

• Data is used to inform nature conservation, academic

research, planning & development

Background to ERIC North East

• Launched as the official LRC for the North East

in January 2010

• Covers the area from the Tees to the

Tweed

• Funded through grants, service level

agreements and fees from one-off data requests

Why do we need ERIC North East?

• Makes wildlife information for the

North East available from one place

• Used to inform nature conservation

decision making, regionally and nationally

• Sources, manages and digitises

data that would otherwise be lost

Local records centres nationally

• Association of Local Environmental Records

Centres (ALERC)

• Full national coverage
• Hosted differently
• Variations on the services offered

and the fee charged

ERIC North East’s data holdings

• Over 1.7 million species records
• 85, 238 protected species records
• 149,437 UK BAP species records
• 1145 local site boundaries
• Statutory site boundaries
• Habitat survey data

Data holdings

Aquatic Heteroptera Recording Scheme English Heritage Northumberland Biodiversity Partnership Auchenorhyncha Recording Scheme Environment Agency Northumberland County Council Berwick Wildlife Group Forestry Commission Northumberland National Park Authority Biological Records Centre Freshwater Flatworm Recording Scheme Northumberland Wildlife Trust Brachysera Recording Scheme Grasshopper & Cricket Recording Scheme Northumbria Mammal Group British Bryological Society Hartlepool Borough Council Northumbrian Water British Isles Neuropterida Recording Scheme Harvestman Recording Scheme People's Trust for Endangered Species British Lichen Society Hoverfly Recording Scheme Pseudoscorpion Recording Scheme BSBI Hypogean Crustacea recording scheme Quakers' Hole Wetland Project Butterfly Conservation Isopoda Recording Scheme Riverfly Recording Scheme Caddis Recording Scheme Lacewing Recording Sheme Sepsidae Recording Scheme Ciidae Recording Scheme Ladybird Recording Scheme Soldier Beetle & Jewel Beetle Recording Sheme Collembola Recording Scheme Leazes Park Ranger Service Springtail Recording Scheme County Moth recorders - VC66, 67, 68 Longhorn Beetle Recording Scheme Tarmac Cranefly Recording Scheme Mayfly Recording Scheme Tees Valley Biodiveristy Partnership Culicidae Recording Scheme Middlesbrough Borough Council Tees Valley Wildlife Trust Cumbria Biological Data Centre Millipede Recording Scheme Tick Recording Scheme Darlington & Teesdale Field Naturalist's Club Muscidae Recording Scheme Vincent Wildlife Trust Dixidae Recording Scheme National Trust Waterbug Recording Scheme Dove Marine Laboratory Natural England Wildflower Ark Dragonfly and Damselfly Recording Scheme Nature Conservancy Council Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Durham Biodiversity Action Plan Newcastle City Council Red Squirrels Northern England Durham Biodiversity Data Service North East Fungus Study Group Durham Bird Club North East Reptile & Amphibian Group Durham Mammal Group North Pennines AONB Durham Wildlife Services - Durham Wildlife Trust North Tyneside Council Durham Wildlife Trust Northumberland and Tyneside Bird Club

Plus many individual recorders

How is the data sourced?

• We work closely with recorders / groups to set up

two-way data sharing agreements

• Always looking for new sources of data
• Ensure we receive regular updates to datasets
• Why do some key groups not share their data with

ERIC North East?

Possible restrictions to the data…

 Removing the observer’s name from the records  Reducing the resolution of grid references for particular

species (i.e. 100m sq to 1km sq)

 Completely restricting access to records for specific

• rganisations or groups of users

We manually apply all of these restrictions to every report we produce for third parties

Data holdings

What data is not currently held by ERIC North East?

• Local bat and badger groups
• Northumberland, Newcastle & North Tyneside

LWS and LGS citations

• Northumberland and Teesmouth Bird Clubs
• Absence data

How is the data managed?

• Collation
• Digitisation
• Validation
• Verification
• Metadata
• Local Wildlife Sites

Search criteria

By site boundary By grid square By species By taxon group

NZ2244 NZ1234

 Records are checked manually by staff and upon entry

into Recorder

 Records sent out to experts for verification  Will soon be including a ‘Determination status’ column

to indicate verification status of the data

Are the wildlife records reliable?

Data services provided by ERIC North East

• Standard report & map
• Other options – GIS boundary, specific species,

citations

• Raw data – no interpretation
• We always refer back to original recorder/recording

group/expert for more detail if required We want to hear from you how we can improve

• ur service

Data services provided by ERIC North East

Data services provided by ERIC North East

Data services provided by ERIC North East

• Charging policy
• Invoicing

Standard Data Request Time Cost 1km 1 hour £80 + VAT 2 - 3km 1.5 hours £120 + VAT > 3km Price upon request LWS Citations + 0.5 hours +£40 + VAT Site Boundary GIS Shapefile Price upon request Non-Standard request Price upon request

What is the relationship between ERIC and the NBN Gateway?

• ERIC sends regular updates of some of its data holdings to

the NBN Gateway

• Sensitive records can be viewed at 10km sq resolution, all
• ther records at 1km sq
• Dataset owners can specify within the Data Sharing

Agreement whether they want their records to be included in this update

ERIC and the NBN Gateway

Why use an LRC rather than the NBN Gateway?

• Data from the NBN Gateway should not be used for

commercial purposes, including a desk study for a client, without first obtaining written permission from all of the data providers

• Groups and individuals who share data with ERIC do not

all give us permission to put their data on the Gateway

• Higher resolution data can be accessed by going to the

LRC directly

How can we improve?

• We welcome feedback and are open to ideas

for improving our service

Any questions?