FSC BioLinks

Project dates: 2018-2022
Funder: National Lottery Heritage Fund

The Field Studies Council BioLinks project was a five-year initiative funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund that trained thousands in invertebrate identification and biological recording.

Through subsidised training courses, learning opportunities, free resources, and digital tools, the project boosted the number of invertebrate biological records and transferred identification skills to over 5,500 learners.

This £1.2 million project has been hailed a success and there is hope it will form the national ‘blueprint’ for future initiatives that support conservation. Project reports and findings can all be found through links on this page, with the hope that they provide valuable insight for new projects.

Project Achievements

Over the five years, thousands of people engaged with the project and there has been a substantial number of invertebrate records added to iRecord (national biological record database). These records can be used by researchers and policymakers to help inform future conservation decisions. Here are some of the headline achievements of the project:

490 in-person events held across 47 venues. 5,752 learners attended these courses led by expert tutors
36 online training courses delivered – these were developed to help people continue their learning journey during the Covid19 pandemic. 4589 learners engaged with these online courses.
85 free ‘Natural History Live’ webinars were delivered. These webinars had 12,265 participants attend live, and the recordings have been made openly accessible through YouTube – they now have over 70,000 views.
10,000 biological records were generated from the in-person courses and events, and these have all been added to iRecords.
62% of people who attended in-person events reported that they had submitted biological records as part of their involvement with the BioLinks project. This suggests that over 35,000 records have been submitted by these participants.

View the full ‘FSC BioLinks Strategic Evaluation Report’.

Resources

Thanks to the Field Studies Council, the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Royal Entomological Society, Butterfly Conservation, and others within the conservation and wildlife sector, BioLinks have been able to create a variety of free resources that are openly accessible.

Natural History Live Webinars, all accessible through YouTube.
Insect Morphology Infographics that can be used as a personal reference or for teaching purposes. They can be downloaded from our Insect Week Blog.
A series of ‘Field Studies Guidance Notes’ that guide you through taxonomy, biological recording, and using microscopes.
Identikit, which is a tool for creating and publishing interactive web-based identification resources.
Biodiversity blogs that delve into invertebrates, wildlife projects, and personal experiences from people involved with conservation work or courses.

Reports

BioLinks reports and consultations are openly accessible. It is hoped that new projects and initiatives in the conservation sector can learn from the findings and continue to build on some of the great work the BioLinks project achieved.