Data for the Public

We provide a non-commercial enquiry service for species, habitats, and sites data to recording groups, members of the public, schools, colleges, students, etc. Though this service is often free of charge, we address pricing on a case-by-case basis.

All official enquiries must go through our Data Request Form, available at the link below. If you have any general data-related questions, feel free to contact our Data Manager.

Download Data Request Form (.docx, Word)

Make an enquiry to CBDC

To make an enquiry, please download and complete our Data Request form (Word document) and email the completed form to our Recording Officer. To ensure you get the information you require, please read our Guidance Notes as well as our Terms and Conditions.

To learn about our services, please see our Standard Data Searches section. If your needs aren’t covered by our standard searches, please specify your requirements in an email via the form on our Contact Page or contact our Recording Officer, directly.

Our aim is to make information about Cumbria’s natural environment used as widely as possible.  Only some of our data is available via the NBN Atlas so currently you will need to contact us directly to access the 2.8 million records we hold.

Download: Data Request form (Word Document)

Please note:

CBDC reserves the right to exercise discretion in reducing or waiving charges where there is good cause.

Enquires for large amounts of data or complex enquiries that will take more than 1 hour of CBDC time are liable for charging, unless a Data Exchange Agreement is in place.

Enquiries for conservation and land management are usually chargeable. However, to support local biodiversity conservation we give each conservation charity with nature reserves/land in Cumbria who is actively contributing records to CBDC up to three free standard single site data requests per organisation per annum.

No chargeable service will be carried out without CBDC contacting the enquirer for confirmation to proceed.

If you need clarification about your enquiry please contact one of our staff  who will contact you before proceeding with the request.

Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre

The Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre at Tullie House Museum, Carlisle keeps wildlife information for the county of Cumbria. Tullie House Museum, in its role as a local natural history museum, has collected and disseminated records of wildlife in Cumbria since its inception in 1893. From the early 1990s the Museum has developed a computerised database of species and habitat records in Cumbria and has taken the central role in providing a local biodiversity data service for the county. This role was restyled as Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (CBDC) in 2010, a not-for-profit organisation hosted by Tullie House Museum and advised by local stakeholders.
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreSaturday, March 22nd, 2025 at 1:45am
CBDC are very proud to be supporting the Wild Weekend Bioblitz at Park House Farm in Torpenhow this May. If you have interests in wildlife recording and will be in Cumbria 10-11 May, this is the event to attend. Book your free ticket now!

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/wild-weekend-bioblitz-tickets-1290302061199
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreThursday, March 20th, 2025 at 1:40am
Last month saw the Cumbria Recorders' Conference 2025. In case you missed it or attended but want a recap of the talks, a summary of the conference together with slide decks for all the programmed talks are available from our website:
https://www.cbdc.org.uk/get-involved/recorders-conference/
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreThursday, February 20th, 2025 at 11:00pm
Cumbria Recorders' Conference 2025 starts this time tomorrow. Thanks to all speakers for agreeing to speak! It is fully booked but if you missed out on a place, there will be a summary of the day posted on the CBDC website shortly!
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreWednesday, February 19th, 2025 at 8:12am
Local supermarket seems confident of a Pine Marten recovery in Cumbria...!

[In Europe, they are known to chew through cables in car engines]
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreMonday, January 20th, 2025 at 6:27am
Last chance to register for the webinar:
Updating Cumbria’s County Wildlife Sites

Tomorrow at 6:30pm.

A golden opportunity to find out more about the project, County Wildlife Sites and important habitat in Cumbria. Come along!

To register: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdmc0gvIgFRX4DVhlI-042B18KZJ_TOis8nqtAFzShww7M0zg/viewform
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreWednesday, January 8th, 2025 at 1:29am
@RHS Science and Collections Summer Studentships - apply by 31 Jan 2025 for an undergrad research opportunity including data collection on urban tree planting!
https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/qualifications-and-training/work-based-training/science-and-collections-summer-studentships