Bristol Regional Environmental Records Centre

Photo by Tim Corner. Dylan accepting his award in a conference room

BRERC volunteer Dylan Peters was awarded the winner of the National Biodiversity Network Terrestrial Recorder of the Year 2025 at the @nbntrust.bsky.social conference in Bristol last week.

Well done Dylan!

‘It fully changed my life!’ How young rewilders transformed a farm – and began a movement At Maple Farm, nature is returning in droves: nightingales, grass snakes, slowworms, bats and insects. All due to the vision of a group determined to accelerate its recovery

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Putting together an seasonal spotter sheet for Blaise Museum to use in their Autumn Family Fun at half-term. Love autumn! 🍂🍁🍄

A beige bracket fungus growing at the base of a large Ash tree which frames a view of green fields and hedges in the middle distance

Dryad's Saddle ~Polyporus squamosus~ is a parasitic bracket fungus. New growth appears in spring and autumn and it won't persist much longer

BRERC attended the first Wild Summit in Bristol last week. Important to get together with all sorts of people and environmental organisations to learn, debate and plan how to reverse nature's decline.

Blue oval shaped organism with a transparent sail, on wet sand

By-the-wind Sailor ~Velella velella~ a fascinating animal. BRERC has one record - a mass stranding at Weston-super-Mare in 2004. Worth looking for after stormy weather

The maps on our website are working again 🙂

The Interactive Maps show overview data - search for a species, or click on a 1km square to see what's on the database.

The Species Mapping shows the records either at 1km level or 100m level.

Have you recorded wildlife?

An MSc student at Leeds Uni is interested in understanding how biological recording and biological recorders contribute to conservation - survey link here: forms.cloud.microsoft/e/taGxQK7Adg

The interactive maps on our website aren't working due to maintenance + restructuring. It'll take a while to complete but will improve the website + other services.
We apologise for any inconvenience + hope it won't deter you from submitting records.
We're processing + making data available as usual

Apologies - BRERC online maps are currently offline for maintenance 🔧

It's a good year so far for Small Heath - which used to be much more common. Help us keep track of butterfly numbers locally by sending in your records recording.brerc.org.uk 🦋

🌾 Can we reconcile farming and nature? Or are we facing a deepening divide?Join#BRLSI on May 14 for Faultlines a new series tackling the tensions in today’s sustainability policies. inc: #hannahneedham #georgemonbiot #marklynas #lynndicks #patrickholden #DustinBenton
www.brlsi.org/whatson/faul...

Beautiful Demoiselle Damselfly on dogwood leaf

Bloody-nosed Beetle

Dingy Skipper butterfly

Grizzled Skipper butterfly

A few of the insects seen in the Tucking Mill (Bath) valley today. Spring hotting up! @savebutterflies.bsky.social @brerc.bsky.social @twotunnelsbath.bsky.social @the-wildlifetrusts.bsky.social

Hi Martyn

It was Hawkesbury Common on 9th

#RecordOfTheWeek - this relaxed Hoopoe in South Glos. There's been a major influx to Southern England this spring so keep an eye out!
📷Steve Perryman

Field Ecologist - Fixed term until September 2026 | 29 April, 2025 | Jobs and careers with West of England Combined Authority Jobs and careers with West of England Combined Authority - The West of England Mayoral Combined Authority (MCA) is seeking to appoint a field ecologist to work on an innovative approach to assessing t...

Field Ecologist job - careersearch.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/jobs/job/Fie...

Scarlet Tiger moth larvae out in force in Bath! Seeing more of the colourful moths around the city in recent years. @brerc.bsky.social @bathnature.bsky.social

📷 Matthew Millett

Stone steps leading up a slope in woodland. Bright greeny yellow flowers are growing along the bottom two steps

Opposite-leaved Golden-saxifrage brightening a damp, shady corner.

Red Dead-nettle~Lamium purpureum~ begins flowering around now and is useful food for early pollinators that are flying when it's warm enough.
The leaves are a similar shape to Stinging Nettle but dead-nettles don't sting. The square stem gives away they are in the same family as Mint.

My local Toad Patrol started with a bang last Thursday, with Toads, Frogs and even a Palmate Newt appearing from all sides 🐸. The photo is from Saturday - much cooler; after being helped across the road this Toad found a warm hiding place

A brown and cream Speckled Wood butterfly perched on a Bramble plant with glossy black blackberries

#DYK there are many, many species of Bramble - Rubus?

We're meeting regularly with botanists to write species accounts for the 'Wild Plants of the Bristol Region' which will update and expand on the 'Flora' (2000). It took 3 meetings to get through all the Rubi 👀

SignsofSpring1 = @b.r.e.r.c See Instagram 'SignsofSpring1' highlights from BRERC (@b.r.e.r.c)

Spring is on its way - have a look at our saved stories on Instagram for #SignsofSpring

I saw my first flowering Cherry Plum yesterday 🌞

www.instagram.com/s/aGlnaGxpZ2...

Bats for Roofers - Courses for specific professions - Bat Conservation Trust Are you ready to learn how to work alongside bats in buildings? Upcoming dates: 5 and 11 February 2025 (2 afternoon sessions online) Book the Bats for R...

🦇Many people who work in the #roofing industry have encountered bats, but what are you supposed to do when that happens?
Book our ' #Bats for Roofers' training course to! Online over 2 afternoon sessions on 5+11 February.
Booking deadline: 29 Jan
www.bats.org.uk/our-work/tra...
Share widely!

Catching up with @nbntrust.bsky.social recent Impact Report - chuffed to see BRERC are 5th in the top data-providing organisations: above some national organisations

Happy New Year to all our recorders. It's been great to get back to the office to a busy @records inbox and lots of online records recording.brerc.org.uk/home

Group of people on coats and hats waiting to begin a walk on a grey day

Same group posing for a photo in front of tall grey tree trunks

3 people looking over the parapet of a small stone bridge while another person looks underneath for Otter spraint

Identification challenge - 1 person photographs a fungi on a tree trunks and others look at their phones to try and find a match

BRERC staff and volunteers enjoyed their Christmas 'walk' last week (there's a lot of stopping 👀).

We hope all our recorders have a Merry Christmas and feel energized by the break to record even more in 2025!

A rosette of three, bluey-green, damaged leaves, at ground level. They are a distinctive shape and texture.

It's a bit battered and trodden on, but this is a promise of next summer 🌞 Bee Orchid rosettes are identifiable all winter, and they turn up in all sorts of places, so keep an eye out!

Lit up pale grey seed heads of Traveller's Joy scrambling along a scrubby edge

Winter sunlight highlighting the seed heads of Traveller's Joy aka Old Man's Beard aka ~Clematis vitalba~

An indicator of limestone, we have records from across most of the BRERC area apart from the North Somerset Levels

Just joined