About Us
For over 20 years Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC) has been the main centre of reference for biological and geological information for Somerset. Set up in 1986 as a joint venture between Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT) and Somerset County Council, the record centre is a partnership organisation based within the trust. SERC is a member of the Association of Local Environmental Records Centres and has close links to the National Biodiversity Network, and the National Federation of Biological Recorders.
Our remit is to gather information from across Somerset and make this widely available for many different purposes from conservation strategy for the county to management of individual sites. We rely on the generosity of many individuals and organisations in submitting their records to us, in particular members of the local specialist groups. We also have our own team of surveyors.
Our Service Users
SERC is a resource open to individual enquirers providing information for a variety of purposes including research, monitoring and recording. To landowners and conservation groups we provide invaluable information for managing sites for nature conservation. Developers and their consultants, and members of the public, regularly make use of our services as part of the planning process to help assess the potential impact of development works.
Organisations with service level agreements with us obtain enhanced access to our data-holdings, and benefit from a service tailored to meet their particular needs. Current agreement holders are Wessex Water, Somerset FWAG, and the Somerset Drainage Board Consortium.
Our Partners
Our current funding partners are Somerset Wildlife Trust, Somerset County Council, the District Councils, Exmoor National Park Authority, Natural England, and the Environment Agency. They provide annual funding to support the core functions of the record centre, in return for our services. We work in close collaboration with our partners on biodiversity strategy for the county and the Southwest region, including the local biodiversity action plans, and local sites system.
Management and funding
SERC sits within the sales company of Somerset Wildlife Trust (SWT Sales Ltd) with a board of directors that includes SWT trustees. Partner organisations, who provide our core funding, guide the development of the record centre through our Strategic Advisory Group.
Although we make charges for some of our services, enquirers seeking data for non-commercial activities, such as wildlife recording, conservation work and academic research, can usually access our data for free. Any income we generate is channelled back into nature conservation and supporting recording within Somerset.
