Thames Valley Environmental Records Centre (www.tverc.org) is a not-for-profit organisation that collects, manages, analyses and shares data about the natural environment in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. We collect these data from a wide variety of sources, but the main source is volunteer biological recorders. These are people who give up their time to record wildlife and share these records with us.

Some of the equipment needed to record wildlife can be expensive and beyond the means of many people, for whom biological recording is often an unpaid hobby. TVERC wants to support existing recorders by loaning equipment so that they can collect records for us. We also know that equipment can be a barrier to starting biological recording, so we want to encourage new people to record wildlife by providing them with equipment to help.

We already have some equipment available for loan, but recorders tell us that much of it is now old and no longer suitable. We wish to upgrade the equipment we have available for loan to encourage more people to get out recording wildlife or to widen the scope of their recording. We are hoping to buy bat detectors (£78 each), trail cameras (£195 each), insect traps (£225 each) and insect nets (£40 each).

The data TVERC holds is absolutely vital for making evidence based decisions about the natural environment in Berkshire and Oxfordshire. Wildlife conservation NGOs and Local Government use our data to ensure they are making the best possible decisions to ensure our wildlife is protected and accessible for all to enjoy. Good quality data is therefore essential to safeguarding the future of the environment in the Thames Valley.

Any help you can give towards building a better pool of TVERC wildlife recording equipment to loan for free to our volunteer recorders would be really appreciated.