A NET FULL OF MOTHS

Moth recording and the web

Martin Harvey

VC22 (Berkshire) county moth recorder

Open University – Biodiversity Observatory

Links: bit.ly/mothweb

Moths Count: English moth recorders’ conferenceBirmingham 31 January 2009

Survey of county moth recorders Nearly all get sent digital photos for ID Over two-thirds participate in online

egroups or forums Nearly all agree that the web has brought

more people, and more records, into mothing

Nearly all agree that the web can help with identifications, especially for beginners

But concern over increasing reliance on photos, without voucher specimens to back them up

Making ID easier

Enable easy comparison of similar species

Allow photos to be annotated online Treat photos more like vouchers,

recording determiner name/s Encourage better labelling, e.g. size,

location, date

Predictive mothing

Norfolk Moth Group (Flight arrivals) Suffolk Moth Group (What’s flying

tonight) Somerset Moth Group (What’s on the

wing tonight)

Five mothy things you can do on the web Set up a Google news alert for “moth” Join the “Moths aren't scary they rock!!”

group on Facebook Help test and develop the OPAL iSpot

website Set up live blog + photo pool + Twitter

updates for NMN Turn it off, go outside and find some real

live moths to record

bit.ly/mothweb

Thanks to all the people who develop and maintain the websites I’ve featured. Also to the county moth recorders who took part in the online questionnaire, and to Jim Wheeler of NorfolkMoths.co.uk for additional info.

For links to all the sites I’ve mentioned, plus a copy of this presentation, type this into your web browser: