Posts Tagged ‘London Natural History Society’
A Sense of Place: The history of the geographical information in the London Natural History Society records
Place has been an integral part of natural history observations from the very beginning. Authors have described the natural history of their parish, their town or their county often in great detail. But the systematic recording of place to give an account of distribution is much more recent…
Read MoreLiving History
In 2011, I wrote about my involvement with the ornithology records of the London Natural History Society, noting that I had first crossed their path some twenty years before that. Five years on, the nature of the project has changed, but much of the original challenge remains. I had seen my role, offering services to GiGL to process some old data, as not too demanding. However, when space in the Union …
Read MoreJoy of Recording
When I was a kid and teenager, I spent a lot of time looking for fossils, fungi and berries. It didn’t occur to me at the time to try and put a label on everything, beyond whether it was useful or edible. It was much later that I became interested in identifying what I saw around me and then in counting it and recording it. When I moved to London I was fascinated by the quantity and variety of wildlife I discovered in an urban environment.
Read MoreLNHS Collaborations
LNHS remit is the study and recording of natural history, archaeology and other kindred subjects especially within twenty miles of St Paul’s Cathedral. Things have moved on since John Swindell’s article in the July 2006 issue. The LNHS and GiGL exchange biological records on a regular basis and GiGL has frequently been able to assist LNHS in …
Read MoreInterview, John Swindells
GiGL’s Board of Directors are central to our work and our success. Their commitment and expertise helps guide GiGL and keeps us moving forward and developing. Directors are on the front line of biodiversity and open space work in the capital. They are GiGL service users and contribute to our data banks, as well as serving as ambassadors for GiGL.
Read MoreMasses of moths
GiGL currently holds nearly 2.8 million species records. Whilst I can’t claim to have input all of those records myself, I can lay claim to just over 1.5 million.
In recent years, the greatest number of records has come to GiGL as large datasets from established recording schemes such as the London Natural History Society.
Read MoreLondon BioBlitz
A BioBlitz is a light-hearted biological survey that provides the chance for naturalists and members of the public to explore and learn together.
As well as raising awareness of biodiversity and the importance of biological recording, it can also generate genuinely useful …
Read MoreA day in the afterlife
My connection with GiGL began with Ian Holt, the then warden of Sydenham Hill Wood, in 2006. In order to make the most of my baby boomer final salary pension I was planning to retire from my job as Librarian at the Horniman Museum where Ian was based. As I told Ian, I was looking for some good works to amuse myself and (no doubt) make work for others …
Read MoreHaving a ball with moths
Mandy Rudd, GiGL Director Data entry and validation are two key but under-utilised services that we provide to our partners in order to help them mobilise their data. GiGL has been able to offer these services free of charge to the voluntary organisations who contribute their data to GiGL. For the last couple of years…
Read MoreFrom Darwin to Deptford
Matt Davies and Lauren Alexander, GiGL’s data team, give an overview of GiGL’s data holdings and the process of inputting and extracting information from the database. GiGL may be ten years old, but the records that GiGL holds cover a much broader time span, dating from 1843 (Charles Darwin, Down House) to May 2006 (Jo…
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