Why don't we try using Living Record for recording our sightings this year?
Colin Adams
On Friday, I used the BDS website to record the four tenerals I saw at Hurst Grange Park. Yesterday, I saw 27, and tried to record them in the same way. There were problems with this:
1) I had to enter the site details all over again - this alone precludes it for regular recording in my view (it's fine for holiday records, I guess, which is what I used it for last year when in Northern Ireland for 4 days).
2) The granularity lacks details that we are used to (e.g. you can record emergents, but not tenerals, and no sex information).
3) I was unable to actually enter the records due to a bug (I kept getting a cryptic error message. And I am a professional software engineer, so if it's cryptic to me, I don't suppose others would find it easier. I have reported the bug).
Having seen Living Record mentioned in Darter, I googled for it, and found the website (http://www.livingrecord.net/index.cfm?m=0). After sleeping on it, I used the contact facility this morning to ask Adrian about using it (see my email and response from Adrian below - especially Steve, please.).
I have now entered yesterday's record using the site.
Brief summary of user experience:
WONDERFUL!!!
This is all I could dream from an online recording facitlity. I can't encourage you enough to join now and take a look. I didn't even bother with practising - it's so easy to use.
From: Adrian H Bicker <adr...@mc2d.co.uk>
Date: 22 April 2012 09:07
Subject: RE: Living Record: Contact us from Colin Adams
To: colinpa...@gmail.com
Dear Colin
That would be great!
The simple answer to your question is just ‘Join’ and have a go.
You can practice with Harry Potter dragons, which are provided for training purposes.
There is a User Guide in the Help section (it does need some updating).
Over 10,000 dragonfly records came in through Living Record last year from 8 counties, from Hampshire to Yorkshire, Radnorshire to Cambridgeshire. I think this is about 40% of the national total. The aim is to make recording quick, easy and precise. Each recorder also has the reward of their own personal records system and access to a range of shared distribution maps which show what everyone has found. This combination does seem to encourage more recording activity.
Anyone can join Living Record and enter records anywhere in England, Scotland and Wales.
At its simplest, a recorder can enter their sightings into Living Record during the year and then download these as an Excel-compatible file that can be sent to the county recorder.
But it works much better if the county recorder joins in. He can see the new records that are entered from day to day. He can review and verify these, asking any necessary questions within days of the original sighting. It is a great way for the county recorder to know what people are finding around the county as the season progresses. It also spreads the verification workload throughout the season. At the end of the season, he batches up all the verified records (for all recorders) and does a single download for each vice county.
Batching is significant as it locks the records (preventing amendment or deletion), it takes them out of the verification cycle and it prevents the accidental submission of duplicate records (a record can only belong to a single batch).
If your county recorder is too busy to do the verification in Living Record, the task can be delegated to a trusted deputy or even shared. In Dorset, a deputy verifies butterfly records and for moths we have three verifiers working together. One tackles macros while the other two verify the micro moths.
As this is the final season for the BDS national atlas project, I have added a new map that answers the question “what do we still need to record and where?”.
If Steve can send me a simple list of the species recorded since 2000 for each 10km square, I can add this information to Living Record. That would make the task of choosing the target species quick and easy.
I attach an example of the target species map for Dorset. I have also added a table of flight periods. So this map shows the target species that should be on the wing when I visit the Blandford hectad on 20 June. The best prospects are those that are in their peak flight period (shown as green in the diagram to the right). Clearly, my main target should be Scarce Chaser as its peak flight period finishes a few weeks later.
I do hope that the Lancs team join in.
Let me know how I can help.
If you want to explain Living Record to others, the attached leaflet may help.
Best wishes
Adrian
P.S. Don’t forget…
The 2012 season will be over in 10 weeks time for early species like Hairy Dragonfly!
From: colinpa...@gmail.com [mailto:colinpa...@gmail.com]
Sent: 22 April 2012 07:45
To: adr...@mc2d.co.uk
Subject: Living Record: Contact us from Colin Adams
Hello Adrian, I'd like to suggest to the Lancashire dragonfly county recorder that we might try using Living Record (after I read the recent edition of Darter). Is this possible, and if so, how could we take a look at the system?
Colin Adams
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