Many of the people who read this blog and some of us who contribute to it will record the wildlife they see and submit their records to recording schemes. Some of those schemes will be run by individual groups like the National Amphibian and Reptile Recording Scheme (NARRS). Some will be run by Local Records Centres (LRCs) and some will be national like IRecord run by the National Biodiversity Network (NBN).

When you submit records you agree, usually by ticking a box or signing a form, that you give permission for those records to be used ‘appropriately’. The decision on what use is appropriate rests with the individual recording scheme.

The recent case taken against Nature Scot by Trees for Life relating to the culling of beavers in Scotland has caused some consternation in government circles in spite of Nature Scot’s bizarre claim that they ‘won’.

All Statutory Nature Conservation Organisations (SNCOs) are now obliged to consider a number of factors before issuing licenses to cull a ‘protected’ species. As a result of this they are gathering information on each species that they might want to cull under licence to ensure that they can show due diligence before licences are issued. This has resulted in a concerted ‘records grab’ particularly by Nature Scot but involving all the SNCOs to get as many records as possible of ‘target’ species.

You might wish to consider carefully before you submit your next record of a barnacle goose, badger, beaver or pine marten whether that record will be used to protect the animal in some way, will help with genuine scientific study or will be used to justify a cull.

Not all keepers of records make them available to SNCOs but many do. Many small charities and Community Interest Companies get grants from SNCOs or other government funding to function generally or to carry out specific surveys. The assumption has always been that information passed to SNCOs is used for the ‘protection’ of the species recorded except in specific cases (grey squirrels, mink etc). That is no longer the case.

Recording species can be crucial to their survival but it can also be crucial to those who seek to justify culling them. It might be worth bearing that in mind before you tick the box and submit your next record.