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 CentreTuesday, September 16th, 2025 at 11:47pm
The last CBDC recording day of 2025 takes place on Thursday 9th October @WatchtreeNatureReserve near Carlisle. CBDC will be on site 10am-4pm so please do come along to take part in wildlife recording. Whether you are new to recording wildlife or very experienced, you will be very welcome!

We'll start the session with an introduction to Watchtree. At 2pm, there is a wildlife recording workshop and walk - please book this via the Watchtree website. Otherwise, do drop by to have a go.

More information here: https://www.cbdc.org.uk/get-involved/recording-days/
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreTuesday, September 2nd, 2025 at 5:01am
There are still places on the upcoming session "Creating Self-Guided Walks" at Orton Market Hall on 14th September (morning only). If you are interested in how to create such walks - for websites, blogs, for local community groups, for visitors - do come along. Open to all - land managers, farmers, community groups, individuals.

See you there!

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/cumbria-ecoskills

#biodiversity #walking #access #walkinginnature #wildliferecording
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreTuesday, August 19th, 2025 at 11:30pm
We have two informative Cumbria Ecoskills training sessions coming up in September - open to all with an interest in the topics:
- Sunday 14th September: creating self-guided walks (for anyone who wants to encourage your local community to explore existing walks in your area)
- Saturday 20th September: an introduction to wildlife gardening (includes a plant which participants will pot up).

Find out more about both courses here: https://www.cbdc.org.uk/get-involved/cumbria-ecoskills/
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreFriday, August 15th, 2025 at 6:27am
We've just sent out our August newsletter - packed with Cumbrian wildlife recording and nature-related information.

If you haven't subscribed, you can still pick it up from our website - see the 'newsletter' page!
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreMonday, June 30th, 2025 at 1:47am
We're looking for a Seasonal Field Officer to join the County Wildlife Sites Project team - could this be you?
Applications must be received by 9am tomorrow (1st July).

https://www.cbdc.org.uk/about-us/job-vacancies/
Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre
Cumbria Biodiversity Data CentreSunday, June 29th, 2025 at 9:35pm
Thank you to everyone who took part in Cumbria Wild Watch 2025! Without records from individual recorders, our understanding of the wildlife of Cumbria would be far less complete.

#CumbriaWildWatch #Cumbria #30dayswild