A Typical Day

 

SER Typical DayWithin the Staffordshire Ecological Record department, we help to answer enquiries from the general public, SER partners and ecological consultants as mentioned above. However a great deal of our work involves maintaining our databases. When records are supplied to SER we need to co-ordinate, prepare, validate, verify and finally input the data into the Staffordshire Ecological Record databases utilising computer programs, such as, Recorder 6 which holds species records, GeoConservation to which site survey reports are uploaded and MapInfo which is our GIS system and holds habitat and site boundary information.


Biological recording is an important way to provide valuable information about the county's wildlife. We can learn of significant population changes such as the rapid expansion of the Horse Chestnut Leaf Miner Moth population and its movement through Staffordshire. We can highlight species that are under recorded and maybe threatened which then helps us to coordinate the local public in assisting us on species searches (e.g. The Great Hedgehog Hunt). We can also pinpoint areas that require more survey information and target them for future survey, last year we updated our Biodiversity Action Plan wetland inventories for one of our partners Natural England and this highlighted several locations which were lacking in enough information to determine a verified habitat type and would benefit from a survey.

Our records are helping to build a picture of the wildlife we find within Staffordshire and provides a vital tool for planning authorities, conservation groups and those with a keen interest in nature.

 

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