Greenspace Information for Greater London CIC
GiGL mobilises, curates and shares data that underpin our knowledge of London’s natural environment. We enable our stakeholders to make informed decisions in policy and practice.
Based on the Ordnance Survey 1:10,000 map © Crown copyright and database rights 2015 Ordnance Survey Licence No. 100032216. GLA
last updated 14.05.2020
Our Services
GiGL's wide range of services fall into four categories.
Submit & Access Data
Send Us Your Records
If you have wildlife or habitat records, we encourage you to submit these here.
Explore Our Data Online
Explore selected GiGL data via our online interactive map.
Get a Data Search Report
Ecological consultants: access comprehensive biodiversity and open space information.
GiGL Life
GiGL is Closed Week
Like most organisations, we often find we have a list of things we’d like to do on a ‘rainy day’. But sometimes that rainy day never comes. A solution we’ve found helpful at GiGL is to have a dedicated “Closed Week” every six months…
Read MoreIssue 29: Editorial
Welcome to the winter edition of our newsletter. We have some project updates to share, and a few staff changes to announce, along with two ‘joy of recording’ articles to inspire us to get back to recording…
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The Riverfly Monitoring Initiative: an update
It was over six years ago that ZSL wrote an article in the GiGLer about the launch of the Riverfly Monitoring Initiative (RMI) Hub within London. The project has been busy ever since. In spring 2014 the first ZSL led training events were offered on the River Crane and the Hogsmill. Since then the scheme has expanded to include groups of citizen scientists on 16 rivers within Greater London…
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Interview, Jo Heisse
People who aren’t afraid to be themselves and challenge prejudice are inspiring. I currently work mainly in diversity and inclusion and get to meet and work with truly inspiring people who are doing just that. From championing transgender rights, to challenging our gender binary world, to better understanding living with disabilities or mental health conditions, to challenging racism or gender bias. They genuinely inspire me…
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Interview, Tanvi Desai
Seeing the Bosco Verticale in Milan really inspired me to start thinking about the imaginative ways that green can be added to urban environments. The experience encouraged me to take on an MSc in Environment and Sustainability, where I focussed on the value and potential of London’s small green spaces (particularly the patches of grass around buildings). I learnt a lot about the many environmental, social, medical and economic benefits of urban greenspace…
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Digitising Orpington Field Club
It is not very often that we get asked to help digitise the archives of a natural history society so we were excited when the Orpington Field Club approached us to see if we could help. After saying yes, we received a visit to our office from two members of the Club who came with a trolley full of paper newsletters and annual reports detailing the work and life of this organisation from the 1960s to 2014…
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Joy of Recording: Does watching and recording wildlife make a difference?
The Barbican Wildlife Garden is 0.17 hectares of loveliness! We have a meadow which is hand scythed annually and two borders of hedging which include mature plane trees. There are two ponds and a small orchard of ‘rescued’ fruit trees. There is a much loved small bird hide, complete with a white board for observations. We have bird boxes and feeders, and a network of paths dotted with perching logs and benches…
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Interview, Amy Palmer-Newton
Amy is one of GiGL’s Database Officers. She delivers work to review, manage and develop GiGL’s SINCs and habitat databases. This includes collating data in partnership with local authorities and land managers, and coordinating steering from stakeholders. She also maintains information and models predicted changes relating to areas of deficiency in access to nature…
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Planning for Biodiversity’s Future
Those involved in environmental and planning policy have been busy lately. The Environment Bill is making its way through parliament and some of the cornerstone pieces of legislation that are set to emerge will have big consequences for how the environmental data sector supports planning and nature recovery work in England. Many of us are working on responses to the Planning for the Future white paper consultation, due shortly…
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Planning for Better Biodiversity Outcomes
A whole year has passed since the “Biodiversity Evidence – Better Outcomes from Planning” project began. The project aims to support London’s Local Planning Authorities (LPAs) to achieve better outcomes for biodiversity through the planning process. We started by finding out how biodiversity is currently being taken into account and about the challenges faced. The information collected then informed the production of resources and training for use by LPA planners as guidance when looking into biodiversity matters of development projects…
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