The North East Scotland Biological Records Centre (NESBReC) has surpassed a major milestone, collecting more than three million wildlife sighting records from experts and enthusiasts across the region.
Part of Aberdeenshire Council’s Environment & Sustainability Service, NESBReC gathers species data to support education and conservation organisations, national recording schemes, and local communities. The information plays a key role in land use planning, conservation efforts, site management, and research.
The three millionth entry in the database, covering Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City, Angus, Moray, and the Cairngorms National Park, was a sighting of a lizard, specifically Zootoca vivipara.
The record was submitted by Liz Bracegirdle, who spotted and photographed the lizard basking on a pottery urn in Slewdrum near Potarch.
Zootoca vivipara typically hibernate between October and March. When active, they regulate their body temperature by basking in the sun before moving quickly to hunt invertebrates in surrounding undergrowth. As their name suggests, they are viviparous, meaning they give birth to live young. In the North East, they can be found in a variety of habitats including coastal cliffs, stone walls, open woodland, heath, and hills, favouring sunny areas with nearby cover to evade predators.
Chair of Aberdeenshire Council’s Sustainability Committee, Cllr Sarah Dickinson, said: “A massive thank you to everyone who has helped NESBReC reach this significant milestone. It is yet another example of what can be achieved when residents and the council work together for the benefit of the region. Every single record supports a data led approach to tackling the climate and nature crisis—which is critical in developing future action plans—and your help with NESBReC allows us to do that.”
Chair of the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee, Cllr Alan Turner, added: “Aberdeenshire values its open spaces and the work of NESBReC allows developers to best consider how to create new infrastructure in the most nature-sensitive way by building in mitigations and adapting their proposals. This only happens with the wide support we receive from residents, experts, and enthusiasts from across Aberdeenshire, and my thanks go to each of you for helping us transform those individual efforts into this massive, data-driven resource of three million records and counting.”
Members of the public are encouraged to submit sightings via the NESBReC website or by emailing [email protected] with details of what was seen, where, and when.
Contributors do not need to report rare species to take part. Common animals such as hedgehogs and toads are also valuable to record, particularly as their populations continue to decline.
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NESBReC maintains wildlife records on behalf of Aberdeenshire Council and is supported financially by a range of organisations, including Angus Council, Aberdeen City Council, Bailies of Bennachie, Nature Scot, Scottish Forestry, and the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
More information, or details on how to submit a record, can be found at nesbrec.org.uk.
