Worcestershire Record No. 20 April 2006 p. 1

Simon Wood

It was very nice to catch up with many of you at the Worcestershire Recorders AGM 06 in March and take part in another very enjoyable day. The Tim Sparks lecture was especially interesting and certainly highlighted the need to keep accurate and regular records in the natural history world.

Thanks again to everyone who has contributed data to WBRC recently, the total data holdings now stand at almost 750,000 species records. With 2006 being the final year for the collecting period of the Mammal Atlas, I would like to make a final call (as I’m sure Harry already has!) for sending in your mammal sightings, I can provide additional recording forms if you need them, or for the adventurous please provide data in electronic format (excel spreadsheet for example), further details are on the web site and we would be most grateful to anyone who is willing to give this method a go as it can save much precious time here at WBRC.

As I have mentioned before WBRC is trying hard this year to expand on the number of service level agreements we currently have, one key target being District Councils. I am very happy to report that Wychavon District Council have recently signed such a document with us and Malvern Hills Conservators are in the process of finalising a joint agreement between both WBRC and Herefordshire BRC, many thanks to the staff in each of those organisation who have helped to make it happen. These agreements will become the mainstay to WBRC’s continued survival as a professional organisation, providing the decision makers with the most up to date and comprehensive picture of Worcestershire’s flora and fauna in exchange for a degree of financial stability.

I hope you all have a very productive recording season in 2006!