rECOrd is a Local Biological Records Centre (LRC) serving

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, Halton,

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

and Wirral (including the

vice-county A vice-county (vice county or biological vice-county) is a geographical division of the British Isles used for the purposes of biological recording and other scientific data-gathering. It is sometimes called a Watsonian vice-county as vice-coun ...

'pan-handle' boundary around

Stockport Stockport is a town and borough in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt and Tame merge to create the River Mersey here. Most of the town is within ...

) - 'The Cheshire region'. It provides a local facility for the storage, validation and usage of Cheshire-based biological data under the

National Biodiversity Network The National Biodiversity Network (UK) (NBN) is a collaborative venture set up in 2000 in the United Kingdom committed to making biodiversity information available through various media, including on the internet via the NBN Atlas—the data searc ...

(NBN) project. It is one of a number of local

Biological Records Centre The Biological Records Centre (BRC) established in 1964, is a national focus in the UK for terrestrial and fresh water species recording. The term "biological records centre" is also used in the context of local centres, now frequently referred ...

s across Britain which together aim to give complete geographic coverage of the UK. The organisation is housed in Oakfield House at

Chester Zoo Chester Zoo is a zoo at Upton-by-Chester, Cheshire, England. Chester Zoo was opened in 1931 by George Mottershead and his family. It is one of the UK's largest zoos at . The zoo has a total land holding of approximately . Chester Zoo is operate ...

. It provides support for biological recording and for biological recorders within the Cheshire region, allowing as wide access as is possible to both species and habitat records for the region commensurate with protecting those self-same species and habitats. This access aims to inform, educate and to provide real data upon which environmentalists, ecologists and planners, and other individuals and organisations can base decisions. rECOrd deals with data for

wildlife Wildlife refers to domestication, undomesticated animal species (biology), species, but has come to include all organisms that grow or live wilderness, wild in an area without being species, introduced by humans. Wildlife was also synonymous ...

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physics, physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomenon, phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. ...

habitats In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

, wildlife sites and

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

geomorphology Geomorphology (from Ancient Greek: , ', "earth"; , ', "form"; and , ', "study") is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of topographic and bathymetric features created by physical, chemical or biological processes operating at or n ...

and

geodiversity Geodiversity is the variety of earth materials, forms and processes that constitute and shape the Earth, either the whole or a specific part of it.Zwolinski, Zb. 2004. ''Geodiversity'', in: ''Encyclopedia of Geomorphology'', A.Goudie (ed.), Routle ...

. rECOrd Online Data Input System (RODIS) is a facility for entering wildlife sighting information via the rECOrd website. A mix of permanent staff, contractors and volunteers undertake data keying and verification duties, surveys and research historical data. rECOrd is a non-profit making (not-for-profit) company, limited by guarantee (Company No.: 4046886), and is also a charity (Reg. No.: 1095859).

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English botanist, television presenter, author and environmental campaigner. Early and personal life Bellamy was born in London to parents Winifred May (née Green) and Thoma ...

is the organisation's patron, and Gordon McGregor Reid is its president.

Geographic area

The area covered is designated as 'the Cheshire region'. *the county of

(both modern and

) *the administrative and unitary authorities of Halton and

*the Wirral (once part of Cheshire - now part of Merseyside) *the

Mersey The River Mersey () is in North West England. Its name derives from Old English and means "boundary river", possibly referring to its having been a border between the ancient kingdoms of Mercia and Northumbria. For centuries it has formed part ...

and Dee river estuaries and *the marine environment bordering the Wirral out to the 12 mile limit

History

rECOrd began its development in October 2000, managed by Steve J. McWilliam, and was fully launched on 12 July 2002 when it was formally opened by Sir Martin Doughty of English Nature.

External links

rECOrdrECOrd's Google Mapping FacilityrECOrd Photo GalleryrECOrd Nature Discussion ForumList of Cheshire County RecordersrECOrd's Data Search FacilityCheshire Wildlife TrustNational Biodiversity NetworkNatural EnglandEnvironment AgencyChester ZooDirectory of Local Biological Records CentresNational Federation for Biological RecordingAssociation of Local Record Centres
{{authority control Biodiversity Biodiversity databases Biological research institutes in the United Kingdom Ecology organizations Environment of Cheshire