Recording Our Environment
The inaugural Recorders event was hosted by the Somerset Environmental Records Centre (SERC) on the 26th of February 2011 in Draycott Memorial Hall. This event gave us the opportunity to meet people who devote so much of their time to recording and to let them know how valued their contributions are. It also allowed recorders to network with other recording groups and see how they deal with the problems they encounter when recording and entering data. This was a key part of the event and many of the local recording groups produced excellent poster displays, showing the work they are currently undertaking and how to get involved.
Several talks were given throughout the event. The SERC team presented on the current direction of the record centre and the issues associated with data management. Staff from the Somerset Wildlife Trust also emphasised the need for recording and showed us how records are being used by the Trust to deliver large scale conservation projects. Keystone Environmental Ltd. later presented on the use of environmental data from a consultants perspective. Various local and national recording groups such as the Somerset Bat Group, Somerset Butterfly Group, Somerset Mammal Group, Somerset Rare Plants Group, Bat Conservation Trust and the Bristol Conservation and Science Foundation also gave excellent presentations on the projects they have been working on and how the record centre links into their projects. These were very well received and it was fascinating to hear about the huge diversity of recording and conservation schemes that are operating in Somerset.
The talks were followed by lively debates and a number of important issues were raised including concerns about the digitisation of data and records concerning Local Wildlife Sites.
The standard of the entries for the photo competition was exceptionally high. The three winning photos were:-
• Action shot category “black headed gull” by Matthew Marshall
• Close up category “large blue” by Paul Keen
• Landscape category “waiting for the starlings” by Jenny Ross
The overall winner was Paul Keen.
SERC would like to thank everyone who attended the conference and hope that you found the event to be informative and enjoyable. The feedback from the event has been tremendously positive with one of the recorders commenting that they found it to be “very interesting and worthwhile”. We also received several comments saying how superb the food was throughout the event, all of which was locally sourced and hand made.