Designed and maintained by Cofnod, our Online Recording System (ORS) is a powerful and easy to use method for capturing and sharing wildlife data. Records are stored securely in an online database, providing access wherever you are. Enter records in English or Welsh and select species names in either language from the UK Species Inventory, supplied to us by the Natural History Museum. The ORS is only available to those LERCs who use Orca, as the data it captures is entered directly into its species database.
If you want to add your wildlife sightings to the ORS, signing up is easy and means that all the records you enter will be assigned to your personal account. The data will also be shared with Local Expert recorders, who help check what’s been entered, ensuring high quality data, used by us to inform better decisions for wildlife.
The ORS has lots of great features, making entering wildlife records simple and fun.
See some of these great features in action with our video guide to entering records using the ORS.
As well as 'Standard' data entry all registered ORS users have access to Public data projects, such as A Swift Recovery. The great power of the ORS is that it can be easily be adapted to capture bespoke wildlife data. Each year it is used to capture thousands of records related to Great Crested Newt, Dormouse and Red Squirrel ongoing monitoring surveys. These surveys require specific data to be collected, which are entered directly by surveyors, ensuring rapid, high quality, consistent data, helping build a picture of how these species are faring over time.
Use of the ORS isn’t unique to Cofnod. Several other Local Environmental Records Centres have adopted it to help manage data from projects, groups or members of the public. If you’re interested in seeing how the ORS might work for you, please contact us for a demonstration of what it can do.
On the Record is our monthly online newsletter. It's full of interesting information about local wildlife recording, including that month's events and what to look out for in our Species Focus feature. Subscribe now to get next month's issue .