Mobile apps for species identification and recording

The Biological Records Centre has collaborated with a number of recording schemes and mobile app developers to launch a range of smartphone apps in the past 5 years. These apps provide identification resources and aim to make it easy to submit wildlife records. The sightings go to iRecord, allowing recorders to see all their observations in one place.

The iRecord Grasshoppers app, helps you identify the grasshoppers, crickets, earwigs, cockroaches and stick-insects that you see or hear, and lets you record sightings to support their study and conservation and contribute to a new national atlas.

The Bloomin’ Algae app aims to help environment agencies tackle blue-green algae where it is causing harm to people and animals. Blue-green algae naturally occur in lakes, ponds, canals, rivers and reservoirs, however, they can produce toxins that are harmful to the health. By sending in your records of blue-green algal blooms, through this app, we hope to get a better picture of the timing and location of blooms across the UK.

The Rare Arable Flowers app aims to support UK-wide monitoring of this important group of species and help to inform efforts for their conservation. The app can be used to identify rare plant species of farmland, learn more about these species, and record their sightings.

See the full list of apps.