Submitting records

Important

By submitting your records you are agreeing that the information in those records may be collated and disseminated manually or electronically, including via the Internet, for conservation, environmental decision-making, education, research and other public benefit uses in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s data access policy. Names and contact details of recorders will be used for administration and verification purposes only. Your contact details will not be passed to other parties without your consent, whilst your name will form part of the record that is collated and disseminated in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s privacy policy.


All records of moths should be submitted to one of the county recorders (see details on "Contact us" page). Records may be submitted at any time, no need to wait for the end of the year.

Butterfly Conservation provides a number of downloadable files to aid moth recorders. These can be found by clicking on the following link:  moth_recorders_handbook 2013

The minimum information required for a moth record is as follows:

 What - Species’ name (either English name, scientific name or both). This must be accurate, if in any doubt about an identification, it is best not to submit the record.

Where – A six figure grid reference is most useful, and the name of the nearest town / village as stated on an Ordnance Survey map.

When – Date. For light-trapping records, the convention is that the date should be the one on which the trap was switched on, even if the moth arrived after midnight, or if you check the trap the next day.

Who – Your name and contact details. If the identification was verified by someone else, record their name too.

Number – Ideally you should count the number (abundance) of each species of moth recorded. This provides valuable abundance data that can be used to assess species
population trends, particularly when the trap is run regularly in a back garden.

Additional information that adds value to your moth records includes the following:

• Code number (the British checklist number)
• Trapping method used (eg. Light trapping, Daytime observation, Attracted to lighted window)
• Sex if known
• Life-cycle stage (eg. Adult, Larval)

 Ideally records should be presented in a Spreadsheet (such as Excel) with one record per row with fields in the following order:

Code,Taxon,Vernacular,Site,Gridref,VC,Recorder,Determiner,Date,Quantity,Sex,Stage,Comment
 

All the highlighted fields are required, others are optional. If in any doubt please contact us.

• Code: the 'British checklist' number
• Taxon: the scientific name
• Vernacular: the English (vernacular) name
• Site: a name for the place where the moth was caught or seen. This should include name of nearest town or village followed by a more specific site, e.g. Aberystwyth: Penparcau or any site on an OS map to support the grid ref. Please be consistent, do not use different names for the same site.
• Gridref: an Ordnance survey grid reference which will start with SN for Ceredigion. A 6 figure grid reference identifies a 100 x 100 metres square on the map. A 4 figure grid reference identifies a 1000 x 1000 metres square. If you are recording in different places on a large site, you may use the same site name with different grid references or a central grid ref for the site.
• VC: Vice county will always be 46 for Ceredigion
• Recorder: your name, preferably first name and surname. Please be consistent and always record your name in the same way
• Determiner: if someone else identified the moth for you, record their name here
• Date: The preferred format is dd/mm/yy on the day the trap was set, or the actual date on which the moth was observed. 
• Quantity: actual number of moths. The value 0 (zero) indicates that the moth was present but you didn't count them or there were too many to count. The comment field can be used to give more information about the quantity
• Sex: if known, use the values m for male, or f for female
• Stage: the life-cycle stage of the moth. It may be difficult to verify your record if you do not include this information.
• Comment: any further, relevant information.