Species observations held
Information reports delivered
People sharing information
Local Wildlife Sites
Counts last updated: 21/10/2022
Explore Our Work & Access Information
Access Information
We provide access to species, habitat and other biodiversity information in the North Merseyside area. Services are free to many users. Find out more here!
The majority of the information we hold has come from volunteers, naturalists and associated organisations. Shared to enable more informed and transparent conservation. Are you considering sharing information with us? Find out more here!
Volunteering
We support biodiversity related projects, wildlife recording and field and office based volunteering in our area. Find out what’s on and how you can get involved!
Validation & Verification
We feed data directly into the local development control process, strategic review and on to national and even international conservation and research as such we must have confidence in the data we supply. Review the process we use to improve confidence in data.
Data Holdings
The term biodiversity covers wide range of information on the natural environment and there are an enormous amount of unique sources for data covering species and habitat and the additional evidence this has been used to create. Explore what we hold.
Transparency & Governance
Merseyside BioBank is hosted by Sefton Council but operates across the Liverpool Combined Authority area (Liverpool City Region) and across a wide range of public, private and charitable interests. Find out more about how we’re managed here.
Latest News & Notes From The Field
Dr Phil Smith – April 2024 Wildlife Notes
An unusual April – no drought! Rachael Parks tells me there were 19 days with measurable rainfall in Formby, totalling about 55mm, which is around average for the month. Nationally, there was about 55% more rain than usual, including a named storm from 6th to 9th. The latter coincided with very high spring tides (10.2m…
Dr Phil Smith, March 2024 – Wildlife Notes
The Met Office tells us that March was “unsettled wet and dull”, with a succession of Atlantic fronts bringing wind and rain. The resulting rainfall total recorded by Rachael Parks in her Formby garden was 91.5 mm, which is about 50% more than average. My measurements at the Devil’s Hole suggest that the sand-dune water-table…
Dr Phil Smith – February Wildlife Notes
Ainsdale LNR Scrub Removal Dotted Border (Agriopis marginaria) Erosion at Hightown Gorse Shieldbug (Piezodorus lituratus) Spotted Thintail (Meliscaeva auricollis) Summer Snowflake (Leucojum aestivum) With deep puddles everywhere, it was obvious that the month was much wetter than normal. Rachael Parks recorded 19 rain-days with a total of 129 mm which is nearly twice the February…
FUNGUS MATTERS by Anthony Carter
End of Year 2023 September to November should be the peak time for fungi. This year we had rain followed by rain and rain again. Because the weather was also warm, the undergrowth in woods remained in full leaf so searching for fungi was difficult, fungi relying on dead material.I paid a number of visits…
Dr Phil Smith – November Wildlife Notes
Aspen – Wicks Lane Common Clubtail (Sphaerophoria scripta male) Female Earwig – Wicks Lake Green Shieldbug – Hesketh Road Italian Arum (Arum italicum) – Hawksworth Drive Scotch Smudge (Rhigognostis incarnatella) – Ainsdale NNR With measureable rainfall on 22 days and a total precipitation of 152 mm, November 2023 was a wet one. In fact, Rachael…
BTO – New records chart remarkable lives
In July 1997, a Black Guillemot chick was ringed in Orkney. This bird successfully fledged from its nest and lived for nearly 25 years without being seen again. In May 2022, the bird was recaptured, still in Orkney, making it the oldest-known Black Guillemot in Britain and Ireland! This is one of the new records (see…