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Project Aim:

It is known that Cheshire has a wealth of biological recording information, from a wide number of naturalists and natural history organisations, collected over the last two centuries. It is not currently known where all of this information is held.

This project aims to provide an inventory of where historical biological records of the Cheshire region are held and will start making the information accessible to the public of Cheshire and the North West. The project is being co-ordinated by RECORD, the Local Records Centre for Cheshire and a National Biodiversity Network (NBN) partner. An audience development conference, held in November 2003, highlighted this as an important issue, with RECORD as the appropriate body to carry it out. It is also hoped that this project will raise a greater awareness of biological recording, and with a greater awareness of historical records, it will enable both current and future data to be placed into context.

The Need for the Project:

Biodiversity is recognised as part of our heritage and in a predominantly urban affected area such as Cheshire, this project brings social, educational and recreational value as well as environmental benefits. For instance, biological recording takes place on nature reserves, areas that are increasingly recognised as providing recreational and social benefits. The uptake of recording can lead to new hobbies and recreational interest and it is instructive to realise that nationally, there are more birdwatchers at a weekend than there are people who watch football matches!

However, engaging individuals in biological recording activities has been identified as an issue: “There has been a real change in our (biodiversity) sector’s attitude to engaging with people over the last 20 years… One of our greatest failings is the lack of understanding of what motivates people to engage. Our commitment to market and social science research as a sector is incredibly limited. We work mostly on assumption: what turns us on, turns other people on”. Doug Hulyer, Director of Conservation, Wildfowl & Wetland Trust in Urbio: urban biodiversity and human nature. Summer 2004

In order to address this issue, RECORD conducted some research at the November 2003 biological recording conference, as a first stage in developing an audience development plan. Two attempts on the day were made to elicit genuine views on increasing involvement in biological recording:

1. The afternoon session included workshops on recording and the community and biological recorder training needs

2. Feedback forms were distributed to the 100 delegates present at the conference and 69 of these were filled out and returned

The issue of producing an Inventory of where our historical data is held, and then attempting to make it accessible, was one of the items that emerged from the session entitled “What museums can do for recorders”, by Ian Wallace, Curator at Liverpool Museum. It was therefore envisaged that the creation of such a valuable biodiversity resource may increase interest in biological recording.

Additionally, RECORD contacted a variety of specialists and non-specialists, via over 30 e-mail groups that it moderates, to identify their views on this matter. The topic of providing an Inventory brought a positive response and has helped to identify some of the larger collections of data, for example, bird data at Liverpool Museums and gamekeepers’ records at Norton Priory.

Following the initiation of the project during March 2005, the October 2005 biological recording conference was based around the theme of ’Unlocking the Past’. This conference aimed to raise awareness of the project and featured a talk given by Paul Oldfield of Halton Borough Council regarding the records and specimens held at Norton Priory museum. Conference participants appeared to be pleased with the progress of the project and found the talk given by Paul Oldfield to be interesting and informative. Additionally, a number of new sources of data were suggested.

Project funding:

The project is being funded by a grant provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The HLF has four priority aims for biodiversity and the Unlocking the Past Project will contribute to these in the following ways:

1. The project will conserve and enhance our natural heritage by: - Providing the historical context for the best use of biological recording data. This is an awful lot of data - a superb biodiversity output in itself - that needs to be maximised to the full. - Aiding the production of species reports for non-specialists. - Producing an Inventory that will act as a tool for specific recording information on Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) species within Cheshire.

2. The project will encourage communities to identify, look after and celebrate their heritage by: - Involving local community members in promoting their biological heritage. - Helping volunteers understand the context for today’s common, scarce and rare species found in the Cheshire region. - Increasing people’s awareness of the natural environment and involving them in conserving it in and for the future. - Allowing individuals to be part of a development programme for a new generation of biological recorders. - Highlighting where gaps in our current knowledge exist and where they need to be filled. - Providing greater in-depth support of the Biodiversity Action Plan process by introducing historical information into the decision making processes.

3. The project will increase opportunities for learning about heritage by: - Introducing volunteers to new skills and areas of interest, in particular the distribution of the Cheshire region’s species both past and present. - Showing sites that have been systematically recorded over time. - Indicating sites and geographical areas that have been under-recorded over time. - Leading to other forms of local heritage research, for example, social histories with a connection to the local environment.

4. The project will open up heritage resources and sites to the widest possible audience by: - Releasing fragmentary and often ’hidden’ information, sometimes only available to the individual holders, to the public, specialists and all those needing information, opening up a whole new heritage resource. - Providing the information, on request, from RECORD and through a freely accessible comprehensive web site, www.RECORD-LRC.co.uk. - Allowing students, graduates, individuals and societies to use the accumulated data for research purposes. - Allowing Planning Authorities and decision-making bodies to put current information into context, thereby bolstering the factual element underpinning important issues.