At last we are on LinkedIn - so if you've ever volunteered or worked for BRERC you can link to us.

Busy times at BRERC with staff and volunteers attending the Festival of Nature and the South West Invasive Species Forum so far this month.

We'll be at the Festival of Nature in Bristol this weekend talking all things Ancient Woodland - we've updated the mapping for the West of England. Come and see us on Millennium Square.

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!

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

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.

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...

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

#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 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

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

#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 👀

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...

🦇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

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!

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!

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