In parallel to this, BCT also commissioned Exegesis to build an online database for bat ringing records. The decision was made to combine the NBMP and National Ringed Bat Database into a single online portal, as much of the underlying structure and functionality could then be shared.

The NBMP portal covers roost, hibernation, field and waterway surveys, reflecting the functionality in the original portal. Each survey includes recording forms, site mapping, data downloads and reports for NBMP volunteers. The mapping varies in complexity from a simple dot map for roost locations to sectioned transect editing for field and waterway surveys (pictured). In addition, there are tools to help BCT staff run the programme, including administration pages, email notifications for volunteer activity, as well as an Access administration client that connects to the database remotely.

The Ringed Bat Database is constructed for use by advanced experts, as bat ringing requires a licence. Nevertheless, some bat ringers will also be NBMP volunteers, so a shared portal allows users to see everything in one place. Bat ringers can enter, upload and view ringing and recapture records. Records will also be provided to the relevant statutory authority, as required by bat ringing licences. Bat ringers can also purchase bat rings and manage their orders through the site.

Visit the new National Bat Monitoring Programme portal and Ringed Bat Database.

Further information from Richard Griffiths.

Following a review of approaches used in Ireland and other countries, it was clear that the approach should consider the number of occupied hectads (10 km × 10 km squares). Following discussion with other experts, we set the following thresholds:

• Rare species occur in 10 hectads or fewer. 10 hectads equates to about 1% of the land area of Ireland.
• Scarce species occur in between 11 and 50 hectads. 50 hectads equates to about 6% of the land area of Ireland.

We tested these on existing datasets for macro-moths and water beetles. We developed a set of PostgreSQL/PostGIS views that consistently processed and analysed these raw biodiversity datasets. We also generated standardised distribution maps for all 861 insect species through a novel use of atlas functionality in QGIS.

We also pushed the process further to provide additional insights into the distribution of each species. This included:

• Distinguishing coastal species, defined as species where 75% of occupied hectads were within 1 km of the coastline. To aid interpretation, inland and coastal hectads were shaded differently on the maps.
• Identifying geographic skew in species distributions, calculated using the spatial distribution of the underlying records. This skew was presented on each map as standard box-and-whisker plots, and using cardinal and intercardinal compass directions (e.g. north-eastern).
• Recognising species that had a patchy distribution using a DBSCAN cluster analysis algorithm. This helped to identify species that had no clear geographic skew but were nonetheless geographically restricted.

We also considered whether it was possible to assess the abundance of a species in the hectads from which it was recorded. This needed to overcome the effect of variable recording effort, which means that abundances in different datasets are not comparable. We therefore developed a Normalized Hectad Abundance Score, which scored the abundance of each species from 0 (lowest abundance, which is usually an average of 1 record per hectad) to 1 (the species with the highest average number of records per hectad) within each dataset.

All this information was clearly included on the maps, to facilitate the expert review of the results.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

Deer are large animals that are a potential hazard to vehicles on the road. Each year in the UK alone, it is thought that over 700 people suffer injuries or fatalities and over £17 million is spent on vehicle repairs because of Deer Vehicle Collisions (DVCs). In Scotland, a combination of increasing deer populations, especially in the central belt, and a growth in traffic has led to an increase in DVCs.

Exegesis was awarded a contract to collect and analyse data on Deer Vehicle Collisions (DVCs) in Scotland between 2019 and 2021. This work involved obtaining DVC records from a variety of sources in the public, private and third sectors, collating it into a consistent database, and analysing the data to identify trends and highlight areas of concern. This continued work undertaken since 2008 that had established data collation, processing and analysis protocols.

We added 5,479 records of DVC incidents in Scotland, bringing the total in the database for 2008 to 2021 up to 22,753 records. These were analysed in detail and a full report produced. Key findings included:

• Whilst there has been no recent significant increase in DVCs in Scotland overall, there has been a general increase in the central belt that has been offset by a decrease in northern Scotland (see map).
• Dusk is the worst time for DVCs, especially in May and June when overall numbers of DVCs are higher. This information can be used to target mitigation activities.
• There was no evidence of a decrease in DVC incidents resulting from travel restrictions introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic (shown below). This contradicts claims of an anthropause where human impacts on wildlife were reduced. Nevertheless, the number of DVCs reported by members of the public, who would have been affected by the restrictions, were clearly suppressed. This suggests that freight traffic, which was largely unaffected by travel restrictions, was the cause of many DVCs during this time.

We also developed a new approach to analysing DVC risk on sections of the trunk road network, by using a moving window algorithm to identify the parts of roads with the most DVCs. We identified the blackspots with the highest DVC risk from the results. Most of these proved to be junctions surrounded by woodland in the more urban central belt. We recommended actions to mitigate the risk at the 10 worst blackspots.

The report has been published by NatureScot. We also produced a short non-technical summary of the key results.

Further information from Richard Griffiths.

The aim of the project was to establish the suitability of aerial imagery taken from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) to investigate the spatial and temporal extent of bait digging at selected sites in Wales.

Sites were flown at low tides and ortho-rectified seamless mosaics produced. Shore survey and ground truthing was also undertaken, and control holes dug to investigate the persistence of bait digging evidence on different shores. The shores were revisited to assess whether the control holes were still visible, to give an indication of the persistence of damage. The ortho-rectified imagery was used to create bait digging intensity maps on a variety of shore types.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

We developed the hub using WordPress to create a mobile-friendly website comprising a comprehensive data management system and public face for the project. This included:

• Pages providing general information about red squirrels and the project.
• The development of data entry forms for squirrel sightings and a range of different surveys.
• Bespoke maps and dashboards to display records in an easy to understand way.
• News/blog pages.
• Forums for groups defined by survey type and location.
• Events manager.
• Full user authentication and management.
• A record of volunteer activities that allows users to log time spent and view their activity.
• A volunteer training record.
• A configurable messaging system that operates for all users or user groups.

We are continuing to provide technical support for ongoing operation of the website.

Visit the Saving Scotland's Red Squirrels hub.

Further information from Patrick Beasley.

NRW contracted Exegesis to establish a vegetation monitoring programme that would allow the development of the saltmarsh to be assessed and better understood. This involved:

• Collection of high-resolution aerial photography using out fixed-wing drone.
• The generation of an accurate height model.
• Capture of vegetation communities based on species dominance from the aerial photography and data collected in the field. The resolution of the aerial photography made sub-metre precision mapping possible.
• The selection of three transects across the main site.
• Detailed survey of a series of randomly located 2×2 metre quadrats along the transects, located using a high precision GPS.
• Photographs of transects, quadrats and features of interest.
• A full technical report detailing the methodology and results.

The report recommended repeat monitoring surveys following the same methodology and using the same quadrat locations, so that future vegetation change could be quantified and characterised.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

• Update the underlying technology, to ensure long-term viability of the website.
• Refresh the design, aligning it with the new GiGL design standards and ensuring a seamless transition from their main site (in WordPress) to the mapping site (in mojoPortal).
• Simplify the mapping interface, making it accessible to a greater number of potential users.
• Have multiple versions of the web map, each displaying different suites of data.

We started the project with a discovery phase involving ESDM managers, developers and technical architects working alongside GiGL staff. The discovery phase explored the requirements and potential solutions, culminating in the development of approved interactive mock-ups that demonstrated the new design.

The new Discover London website was developed using Agile methods and followed the mock-ups and GiGL design standards. Significant difference between the old and new websites included:

• Radical simplication of the map controls, which decluttered the map and met modern expectations for online mapping.
• Use of expandable menus to hide more complex controls and information when not in use.
• Combined place name, postcode and grid reference search functionality that was previously separate.
• Grouping data into switchable themes, providing a much simpler view on related map data. We also ensured that it was possible to link directly to or embed individual themes.
• Removing the ability to turn individual layers on and off. Instead everything can be achieved by switching between themes, which ensures no overlapping data.
• Use of a different map projection, allowing GiGL to benefit from existing mapping services such as OpenStreetMap and Bing.
• Fully responsive design, allowing interaction with the online map via mobile devices.

Exegesis are continuing to support, maintain and develop the Discover London website for GiGL.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

The dataset was based upon Ordnance Survey MasterMap data, filtered to remove features that were unlikely to be hedges and excluding built up areas as garden hedges were not being targeted. These were then reviewed on the aerial imagery and assigned to one of the following types:

• Not a hedge
• Intensively managed
• Trimmed & dense
• Overgrown
• Line of trees
• Defunct
• Newly planted
• Recently coppiced
• Recently laid
• Woodland
• Uncertain

Hedges not included in the MasterMap data were also added, leading to a dataset of 22,370 features of which 17,013 were thought to be hedges. This was all undertaken in an incredibly short timescale, with data attribution starting on the 15th and finishing on the 27th December 2016.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

The review was conducted by attending a remote briefing, SSRS staff interviews, analysing all datasets, and discussing future requirements with SSRS staff and external contractors. The information gathered was critically assessed and weaknesses identified. The main issues were accounted in a report. The recommendations were made to ensure that the future requirements of the project could be met.

As part of this project, we also wrote a specification for an online Community Hub. This detailed functional and non-functional requirements, including the user journey, volunteer pages, forums, data entry, sightings pages, data download and summary dashboard. Implementation options and time estimates were provided.

Further information from Andy Brewer.

The surprising answer is 'probably yes'.

We identified the Saproxylic Quality Index (SQI) as the best available measure of quality, as it was felt that a site's saproxylic (wood decay) beetle fauna would be a good surrogate of wider wood decay habitat quality, which is one of the most important elements of wood pasture and parkland. We combined available SQI scores with the wood-pasture and parkland inventory we had previously created for Natural England to create a sample dataset of 98 sites. We then analysed the sample data against other available data, including tree records from the Ancient Tree Hunt, geography, climate, designations and habitat networks using PostGIS and multiple regression analysis in the statistical package R. The models produced were refined to identify the model best able to predict wood-pasture and parkland quality.

Eleven site attributes were included in the final model for predicting SQI score. Sites in the south east and lowland sites tended to have higher scores, suggesting that warmer and less exposed sites were better for saproxylic beetles. Unsurprisingly sites with higher numbers and densities of veteran or ancient trees also tended to have higher scores, owing to the increased volume of wood decay habitat present.Sites that were in a landscape with other wood-pasture and parkland were also found to have higher SQI scores.

The best model proved to be remarkably good at predicting the SQI score of the sample. It suggested that sites with a predicted score of 600 or more were likely to have an actual score of at least 400 - itself quite a high score. This suggests that if the model were applied to the wider wood-pasture and parkland inventory it could be used to predict SQI scores and identify sites that could be targeted for survey.

However, this was a proof of concept study, so the model needs more work before we can conclusively state that wood-pasture and parkland quality can be predicted. This includes further refinements to identify attributes that help predict quality. It then needs to be tested to determine how well it predicts SQI scores for sites that were not part of the sample. We hope to be able to continue this work, as we believe the improved model could be very valuable for targeting entomological survey effort.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

ESDM were commissioned to create a website to support Green Shoots that serves to capture and manage the data generated from this programme securely. BASC members can map and describe their shooting areas; identify the species and habitat types that are found on them; and report on their shooting activity. There are also administration tools so club officers can enter data on behalf of their members. There are reporting tools for sharing data with the National Biodiversity Network and other national organisations.

The website needed to be responsive to a wide range of device formats from phone to desktop. It also had to be fun and easy to use by non-experts. This provided a challenge because the data required by Green Shoots is relatively complex, consisting of shoot boundary geometries, points of interest, species records and shooting returns. We worked closely with BASC staff and members in an iterative design process so the website met these usability goals. At the same time, we ensured that the data is captured faithfully with plenty of feedback and validation to users at the point of data entry.

Further information from Andy Brewer

The work involved consultation with staff at JNCC and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) to ensure a faithful import and production of meaningful layers that are useful to JNCC marine staff when assessing the current extent of UK marine monitoring according to each, broad marine discipline (e.g. biodiversity, physical oceanography and fisheries). In addition, users can create custom layers, selecting only the monitoring parameters that may be relevant to a particular analysis.

Further information from Andy Brewer

The work involved assessing data originally from the National Land Use Database of Previously Developed Land, British Geological Society BRITPITS data and Environment Agency Historic Landfill data. Each feature was interpreted on aerial photography to determine whether OMH was likely to be present. Where OMH was not thought to be present the feature was removed from the inventory. Where OMH was thought to be present the feature was replaced with an accurately mapped boundary. Attributes were recorded for each retained feature detailing the sources of information, the confidence that OMH was present and notes describing the reasons for any uncertainty.

The result was the first ever inventory that separated OMH from brownfield sites more generally. In total 141,153 features were checked, but only 8,410 (32,602 hectares) of these were believed to be possible OMH and were therefore retained in the inventory. Greater London was shown to have the highest density of possible OMH, though Middlesbrough and St Austell in Cornwall were also found to be hotspots (shown above).

The process of inventory creation and the results were recorded in a rule base and project report.

Further information from Claire Lush.

Natural England had collated a series of spatial datasets relating to surveys of subtidal and intertidal marine habitats. Though all were in digital Geographical Information System format, they were from a variety of sources with differing formats. These were standardised to MESH Translated Habitat DEF, including an assessment of MESH confidence, data cleansing and validation, quality assurance and production of MEDIN metadata. We used a range of tools within ArcGIS, QGIS, GRASS and MapInfo in order to quickly and efficiently produce accurate and reliable outputs. We also utilised four standard habitat translation tables to manually assure the EUNIS habitat identified. A generic process diagram was also created, that can be used to guide all future MESH translation work.

The data to be imported into Marine Recorder were reviewed so that issues could be identified and the approach to import could be agreed. Biotopes were assigned through expert assessment of the data, based upon faunal groupings from Bray-Curtis analysis, particle size distribution, geographic location and field survey notes for each sample. These were then compared with the Marine Habitat Classification for Britain and Ireland (Connor et al., 2004) for the final biotope assignment. The Marine Recorder spreadsheet import function was used to import the resulting data, with particle size and biotope entered manually. The imported data in the snapshot were then independently checked to ensure they were correctly attributed.

Further information from Claire Lush.

Exegesis were contracted to investigate the distribution of non-native species on protected sites in England, in order to help develop a programme of work to tackle INNS. This involved:

• the development of a master list of 3,687 non-native species (NNS)
• the collation of nearly five million records from the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Gateway and a range of Natural England and third party datasets
• spatial analysis of NSS distribution against Special Area of Conservation (SAC), Special Protection Area (SPA) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) boundaries in SQL Server

We presented the results in Microsoft Excel workbooks showing the NNS that had been recorded from each site. Each spreadsheet could be filtered, allowing only the data within a specific site or region to be displayed. This showed that 98% of SACs, 99% of SPAs and 87% of SSSIs had records of NNS. Potential INNS intersected with 90% of SACs, 96% of SPAs and 75% of SSSIs.

The results for seven sites were reviewed against on the ground knowledge by Natural England site staff to determine any differences. We also made a comparison against data in Natural England’s ENSIS database. These comparisons demonstrated the case for increasing data flow by increasing awareness.

Based on the results, we undertook a review of the recording, systems and data flow processes within Natural England. We recommended and costed the use of the NBN Gateway as a data repository and the use of existing Natural England systems for recording and interrogating INNS data. Additional recommendations were made to improve data flow more generally.

Read the report.

Further information from Claire Lush.

exeGesIS was contracted by the JNCC to provide documentation for the REST API. This was aimed at hobbyist programmers and included a ‘cookbook’ showing how to make a REST call and interpret the response for the following types of request:

• Show a species map
• Show a species map on an interactive map
• Get a species list for a 10 km square
• Get a species list for a site
• Show the taxonomy tree for a species
• Log in to the NBN Gateway
• Get species records for a 10 km square
• Get species records for a polygon
• Get species records within a radius surrounding a point

Further information from Andy Brewer.

The review of other habitat mapping activities highlighted the range of approaches in use, including the incorporation of existing data, remote sensing and field survey. These approaches were summarised to form a list of possible options for inventory creation, from which a preferred approach was selected based upon the options available and some innovation where solutions more appropriate to England were required.

The prototype inventories were created based upon data already available to Natural England. These covered the whole of England for all 64 terrestrial, freshwater and coastal Annex I habitats. The presence of Annex I habitat was identified based upon existing habitat data, automatically searching for habitat codes that correspond to each Annex I habitat. Coverage, gaps and confidence was assessed for each source dataset and resulting inventory.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

The Council’s nature conservation officers wished to maintain this data in HBSMR, as Designation data, and required a number of customisations to allow the data to be incorporated and managed.

exeGesIS was contracted to create a custom module for HBSMR to hold data for multiple surveys for each Local Wildlife Site designation record. Summary data was displayed on a custom tab on the Designation form that is only visible for Local Wildlife Site records.

A button next to each entry provides access to detailed survey information which is displayed on a custom pop-up form.

Local Wildlife Site searches can be executed from the Designations Index Form.

The customisations were successfully delivered and installed in early December 2013.

Further information from Keith Westcott

Because of the biodiversity importance of OMH the habitat was identified as a Biodiversity Action Plan habitat in 2007. However, such sites are threatened by redevelopment (due to their usual status as brownfield sites), inappropriate ‘restoration’, inappropriate management or natural succession. There is very little knowledge of the distribution of OMH, as there is no data that identifies OMH sites at a national level.

exeGesIS were awarded this project in 2011, which has increased understanding of OMH in England and Wales by identifying the key features that are found within such habitats and enhancing knowledge of the distribution of such sites. This involved the development of a new survey methodology and a survey of 98 survey sites to identify OMH habitat, as well as a survey of invertebrates on 50 of the sites - the largest single survey of its kind in the UK. These surveys provided invaluable information on the importance of OMH sites to conservation and the recognition of important sites remotely and in the field.

The results of this work were:

• A handbook for the identification and survey of OMH sites.
• A provisional national inventory of OMH sites in England and Wales, along with an inventory data capture rule base.
• An integrated OMH survey website, including a map of OMH sites and survey data entry forms.
• Field survey data supplied to the NBN Gateway.

Further information from Crispin Flower.

Over three separate contracts between 2012 and 2016 exeGesIS collated maps of GI delivery and captured the information, which was supplied in ESRI ArcGIS format. Maps were collated from local planning authority websites or the relevant Natural England casework officer. Collated maps were registered in GIS and areas of UK Biodiversity Action Plan habitats and other GI were separately mapped and attributed. In total, 753 cases were mapped amounting to 3,485 polygons (21,342 ha). As part of the first contract, the dominant land use was also extracted from Land Cover Map 2007 to indicate the habitat present prior to GI delivery. Brief reports were produced detailing the process and results, and summarising gaps in the information where maps were not available.

Further information from Crispin Flower.