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 CentreMonday, August 19th, 2019 at 4:25am

Bats

We have received a few calls recently from people who are finding young bats in their gardens so we thought we would tell you a bit about bats in the UK and Cumbria and what to do if you stumble across one.

There are 17 different species of bat found in the UK with 9 of these being found in Cumbria. Bats hibernate in roosts throughout the winter and then breed throughout the summer. Bats are an important pest controller and can eat up to 3,000 midges in one night. In other parts of the world, they are important pollinators – without them there would be a lot less chocolate! Unfortunately, bats are in trouble with 25% of the world’s species at risk of extinction and 12 identified species already extinct. This is due to a number of man-made reasons from changes and loss of areas to roost and forage, loss of insects to feed on and the impact from artificial lighting on feeding and roost site. Cats are also responsible for a lot of bat casualties. Due to the risk to bats all species and their roosts are protected by law in the UK and Europe.
The main cause of bats being found at this time of year is the young who are learning to fly for the first time, but this is not always the case.

If you do come across an injured or grounded bat then make sure it is safe from immediate danger, the best thing to do is to pick it up with a towel or glove and place it in a cardboard box. The towel or glove will protect the bat when you pick it up and provide something to cling to in the box. Also, add a milk bottle top of water and poke holes in the lid of the box for ventilation and place the box in a cool, quiet place. Then phone the NATIONAL BAT EMERGENCY HELPLINE. They will give you further advice and contact a local qualified bat handler to visit you. The bat handler will check the bat for injuries and give you further advice or they might take the bat away for rehabilitation.

More information on finding a bat; https://www.bats.org.uk/advice/help-with-injured-grounded-bat

For more advice and information about bats in Cumbria visit https://www.cumberlandbatgroup.org.uk/ or https://cumbriabats.wordpress.com/

Image below shows a common pipistrelles

Help with injured or grounded bat - Advice - Bat Conservation Trust

bats.org.uk

9 1 View on Facebook

Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreWednesday, August 14th, 2019 at 1:36am

SAVE THE DATE: 29th February 2020 - CBDC Recorders' Conference, Carlisle. The annual conference has been postponed until February next year to allow recorders, recording groups and CBDC time to process 2019 records and provide an opportunity for "hot off the press" reports and presentations. We haven't decided a theme yet...but the date is triggering a few ideas.

13 2 View on Facebook

Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreTuesday, August 13th, 2019 at 9:58pm

Lovely pictures....lovely records. If you like bryos and lichens its well worth a visit to the LOST project photo competition exhibition at CWT Gosling Syke Office.

12 3 View on Facebook

Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreTuesday, July 30th, 2019 at 6:29am

Our species of the week is Gold-Tailed melitta Bee (Melitta haemorrhoidalis).

The UK has 276 recorded species of bees living here, one of these is Gold-Tailed Melitta. Which is very particular when it comes to pollen, only collecting from species of the Bellflower. Bee species with a narrow pollen source are called oligolecty, these bees either only collect from a single genus or even a single plant species. This species is also interesting as it is a ground nesting bee living in ground foliage and excavating small burrows to breed in.

This species is under recorded in the UK particularly in the North and it was only rediscovered in this area when it was found in Grange-Over-Sands in 1926 after an absence of 50 years. This species is very rare in the north though there are some confirmed records in Scotland. Here at the CBDC we only have 26 records in total.

Bees are a very exiting group to record as there is such a large variety of species all with different niches and behaviors. Records of Bee species like the Gold-Tailed Melitta are so important to understand bees in the UK and identify which may be vulnerable, as they are so important to our world, but also they are great indicators of biodiversity in all different areas.

For more information and for exiting bee related events check out Cumbria Wildlife Trust’s- Get Cumbria Buzzing project; https://www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk/about/what-we-do/living-landscapes/wildlife-conservation-projects/pollinators

Below shows an image of the Gold-Tailed Melitta, let us know in the comments below if you have seen any interesting species of Bee recently!

12 4 View on Facebook

Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreFriday, July 26th, 2019 at 6:59am

Fantastic event!
Still some places on the next workshop, follow the link to book yours!

1 View on Facebook

Submit A Record

Tell us about single sightings or send us a list of your records

Request Data

Information for planners, consultants, ecologists and biological recorders

What We Do

Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre brings together, analyses and shares information on Cumbria’s natural history, wildlife sites and habitats for education, research and to help people make sound decisions when planning to develop and manage land sustainably.