Recording scheme
One of the main priorities of the ESB is to host a recording scheme for British earthworms. Anyone can submit records of earthworms to the recording scheme by filling in the form.
This will allow us to build up a picture of the distribution of earthworm species in the UK. We already have some data, but there are huge gaps in sampling across the country. You can help by going out and looking for earthworms in your local area and telling us what you find.
Records data is very useful for telling us what species of earthworms are found where. However, if they are collected in a more structured way this data can also be very useful for helping us to understand more about their ecology: why they are found in different places, what causes the differences in populations in different places and how they are changing. The Earthworm Society of Britain runs courses on sampling and identifying earthworms which members can attend so you can learn how to go and sample earthworms.
All the data from the recording scheme will be held by the Biological Records Centre (www.brc.ac.uk) and the data will be made available through the National Biodiversity Network (www.nbn.org.uk).
If you have records data that you would like to contribute to the recording scheme, please fill out the online form. Alternatively, you can email your records to recordingscheme@earthwormsoc.org.uk. At the moment we can only accept Excel spreadsheets or Recorder database formats. If you have data in other electronic formats or paper records, please contact us before sending us any data.