Supporting local recording communities: Spotlight on… Molescroft Wildlife Network
As well as collating, managing and disseminating ecological data - the core functions of a Local Environmental Records Centre - NEYEDC also works closely with the local recording community across North and East Yorkshire. We support small, local groups who are interested in recording the biodiversity of their patch, whether at the field, nature reserve or parish scale, as part of our charitable objective: ‘to advance the education of the public by producing a database of ecological information for North and East Yorkshire’.
Our ‘Spotlight on…’ series will highlight the work we do with different types and scales of local recording communities, from making maps and flying our habitat mapping drone to helping to organise bioblitzes and recording events.
Today our recording community spotlight is on Molescroft Wildlife Network, a community group based in Molescroft Parish, Beverley, who aim to protect and restore nature in their parish. The group was started in 2022 by three local residents and leads a wide range of nature and biodiversity-related projects, including practical conservation work parties, biological recording, local education, bioblitz events, and more. They have received a number of community grants and have also raised funds to develop Ecological Recovery Management Plans for two sites within the parish, as well as the parish council’s Jubilee Award in 2024, presented to individuals or organisations that have made an outstanding contribution to the community.
Background
NEYEDC first came into contact with Molescroft Wildlife Network in early 2024, as part of meetings with another organisation regarding an upcoming recording and monitoring project for hedgehogs across the UK. Whilst we were unable to take on a role in the nationwide project, we became acquainted with Molescroft Wildlife Network through both NEYEDC and Molescroft attending the same initial meetings and participating in the same email chains. From there, we continued discussions separately regarding the work they were looking to undertake in the parish, including recording, monitoring, and awareness of their own Hedgehog population.
NEYEDC Support
After securing funding for a Hedgehog Highways project through the Hey Smile Foundation and East Riding Council’s Community Action Grant, Molescroft approached NEYEDC to enquire about any existing hedgehog data from their parish, and if NEYEDC would be able to offer support with the data aspects of the project. Their aim was to identify local Hedgehog highways and increase awareness of the species within the parish, including what residents could do to support their population.
Mapping
Initially, we produced two types of background mapping for the group: existing Hedgehog records in the NEYEDC database from within the parish, and a map of all other species records. This allowed for the group to examine current data for the area and understand what had been recorded previously, and act as a starting point to try and encourage more structured recording. It also highlighted the lack of data in certain areas, where, anecdotally, members of the group and residents of the parish knew Hedgehogs and other species to be occurring but not recorded.
Record management
Molescroft Wildlife Network umbrella projects in iNaturalist
Another role that NEYEDC can play in the support of local groups is aiding with the collection and management of species records. Molescroft Wildlife Network already had a small but keen number of users of iNaturalist within the parish and determined that this would be the best and most accessible method by which residents could submit records of Hedgehog and other species to the group’s projects. We helped members set up an initial Molescroft Wildlife Network iNaturalist project, covering the whole parish, and additional projects for other initiatives within the area, including recording at St Mary’s Graveyard (part of Caring for God’s Acre) and Millennium Wildlife Haven.
Event and iNaturalist support
In April 2024, Molescroft Wildlife Network held a Hedgehog Highways Project Day at Molescroft Pavilion, at which NEYEDC provided support with the data and recording aspects of the project. This involved holding a stall throughout the day-long event and delivering two short presentations on the role of a LERC, biological data collection and the importance of local records, and how and where to submit data. We brought along some of the mapping produced previously and encouraged residents (of which 150 attended) to mark on our maps where they had seen hedgehogs. This demonstrated that the interest both in the species itself and knowing where they are within the parish was very high – people were keen to share their stories of ‘their’ hedgehogs, and we disappointed to find that so many were ‘missed’ in our existing data!
We also had the opportunity to sign up residents of the parish in-person to iNaturalist and talk through how to submit records, including additional settings to update that allow the records to be used most widely and with the most accurate recorder details.
Ongoing work
Since the event, NEYEDC has continued to stay in touch with Molescroft and keep up to date with their latest projects and events. Using the iNaturalist projects holding records collected throughout Molescroft, we have sought permission to download these records regularly (where licensing allows) and include them in our decision-making database to ensure the group’s data is being utilised. This is available to partner organisations through either Service Level Agreements (East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Environment Agency, Yorkshire Water) or Non-Commercial Data Licences (Humber Forest, Woodland Trust etc.), or through our Ecological Data Search service which informs the planning process. This totals an additional 584 records added to our database for the area, which will continue to grow over time. NEYEDC will continue to provide mapping for the group to share updated information about the parish’s biodiversity, aid with their data management where needed, and provide data support for future events.
Map showing species records within Molescroft parish. Records in red represent records within the NEYEDC database not associated with Molescroft Wildlife Network. Records in yellow and green show records imported into the NEYEDC database from Molescroft’s iNaturalist projects, now made available for local decision-making.