Here, there and everywhere

One of the more mind-bending aspects of running the Sussex Butterfly Atlas recording project is keeping track of where the data is coming from, and where it's going. Trying to store all this information in my head seems to be a great way of inducing total brain meltdown - so I've dedicated some precious time this morning to getting the Sussex Butterfly Atlas data model down on paper.

People often ask how I want to receive their data and this data model really highlights that there are loads of different ways to contribute. It helps me (and the rest of my team of volunteers) if people can get their records into a spreadsheet or database and send them on that way, by email or over the internet. But we're still more than happy to receive paper recording forms and reports to our website.

Sightings from other national butterfly recording schemes such as the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme transects and the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey feeds directly into our Sussex Butterfly Atlas dataset. We also make use of data from 'citizen science' recording schemes like the BTO Garden Birdwatch and the Big Butterfly Count to increase our knowledge of the distribution of common butterflies in our county. And we have an active data sharing agreement with the Sussex Biodiversity Record Centre, so any butterfly records you share with them will reach us also. 

And it doesn't stop there, because any data you share with us will go forward to the Butterflies for the New Millenium national butterfly recording scheme. In this way, the records we collect are also used to inform research, target conservation and influence policy at a national level.