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The Wiltshire And Swindon Biological
Records Centre
The Records Centre collects and holds data on important habitats and species from many sources including Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, English Nature, the National Trust, County Recorders and other voluntary recording schemes, with other data sources being identified such as the Environment Agency and RSPB.

Hundreds of people are involved as County Recorders or in monitoring schemes.

Data are used in many ways including providing information to farmers when they apply for environmental schemes; checking all planning applications in Wiltshire and Swindon; monitoring impacts on habitats and protected species; providing data for ecological assessments; and in producing atlases of plants and animals such as The Wiltshire Flora and The Wiltshire Butterfly Atlas.

The Wiltshire Archaeological & Natural History Society supported and housed the Centre at Devizes Museum from its inception in 1975 with the aid of the County Council and, latterly, District Councils and Swindon Borough, but found it increasingly difficult to secure funds to enable the Records Centre to reach its full potential.

BRC is now part of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust, and this ushers in a new era for the Centre within the National Biodiversity Network (NBN), which will link all Local Records Centres and national data-holders and allow data access and exchange on a scale never seen before. The NBN plans to enhance existing centres and link them on the Internet and establish new Local Records Centres across the whole of the UK to fill in the remaining gaps.

The public and many other data users will be able to access a range of local and national data sets to bring together records as never before. The power and flexibility of the Internet means users will have access not only to bare text but pictures, sounds and even video clips - imagine the combination of local information related to the images of the best natural history films. Identify the butterfly or flower you saw last weekend using images and guides on the World Wide Web, look up its local distribution and submit your record electronically! It will be that easy! Not only that, data from out of county trips or holidays can also be fed in, contributing records to the relevant Records Centre or Recording Scheme.

Alternatively, you can find out the rarest or commonest species in your area and the best places to see them, with images and maps to aid you - a whole new way to appreciate local specialities and the unique features that make a place special. We will keep you posted about when these facilities are to come on-line.

There’s plenty going on. Please contact Sally Scott-White, Biological Recorder, at the Records Centre at the Trust’s headquarters In Devizes, tel 01380 725670, for further information on how to get involved in the many projects already running.