Biodiversity and the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

We are a Crown Dependency. A small Island in the middle of the Irish Sea part of the north-west European off-shore archipelago and a proud independent nation.

We are also proud to be the first whole Island UNESCO Biosphere. A good knowledge of the wild animal and plant species that make their home on the Island alongside us, and that we have a duty to protect, is an important part of being a biosphere reserve. See more at UNESCO Biosphere IoM ….

Manx Biological Recording Partnership – MBRP

The MBRP is all about species. The Partners jointly hold a large database with over a million plant and animal records many of which are now on the NBN Atlas. Apart from the management of all this data, the Partners also encourage wildlife recording on the Island, running identification training courses and promoting a knowledge of biodiversity on the Island. The partnership was established under a ‘Statement of Intent’ which the partners signed in June 2010 (updated 2017). A copy of the statement is available on request.
More information about the MBRP….

Putting Manx wildlife on the NBN map!

Since 2010 the Manx Biological Recording Partnership has worked hard to establish a unified database of wildlife records which is held on the Isle of Man Government digital network.

Considerable quantities of biodiversity species data has been collected in the Isle of Man over many years, going back to the 19th century, by many individuals and organisations. Data sets have also been gathered as part of research projects and environmental impact assessments for the Isle of Man Government.

In the 1990s the Government commissioned habitat surveys of the whole Island as well as detail surveys of designated sites and this has formed a vital baseline dataset of species and habitats. The wildlife records of Manx National Heritage, Manx Wildlife Trust and DEFA were combined into a single Recorder6 biological recording database which is used by the three organisations for conservation management and planning.

Manx BirdLife hold an extensive avian database collected initially for its published Manx Bird Atlas. Manx BirdLife submits its non-avian records to the Partnership but all avian data is held on their own separate database. MBL use the British Ornithologists Union’s British List for all its 8.5 million records. Manx BirdLife gathers bird data for the island and provides data to other partner organisations for research and analysis and to consultancies for environmental impact assessment reports.

Other organisations, listed here, such as Manx Basking Shark Watch, Manx Bat Group, IOM Fungus Group and Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch have considerable species datasets. We work with them, as well as many individual recorders, to make the data available and to keep on top of ‘data flows’.

We strive towards having the functions and providing the services set out by the National Biodiversity Network for Local Records Centres and we are a member of the Association for Local Records Centres, although with relatively limited resources we can only do our best to follow the guidelines as published on their websites.