Technology Tutorials

Getting Started with the National Biodiversity Database Citizen Science Portal

The National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) collects, manages and shares data on Ireland’s wildlife. Its Citizen Science Portal allows you to record and track sightings of plants, animals, insects, and habitats retrospectively, i.e. when you get home and not live in the field.

You’ll need to have an email account in order to submit a record.

Go to https://records.biodiversityireland.ie

Click the blue button “Go” beside the "Click here to start Recording" text

You’ll be taken to the Start Recording Page which has 35 categories. Do look through the categories before choosing as, for example there are “Birds”, “Birds – rare and localised breeding birds” and “Common Swift”. Click on a category to select.

You'll be taken to the Category page where you will complete "Sample details":
Your name
Your email
The date you made the sighting on
The County you made the sighting in
The name of the townland or nearest village
The Spatial Reference by clicking on the map. Use the plus button on the top left of the map to zoom in and switch from terrain to satellite to help visually identify the location of your sighting – you can locate your sighting exactly using latitude and longitude in decimal degrees or to within a 100m square using Irish Grid.

Next complete the second part of the form “Observation Details”:
Species Name – Ideally both the common and scientific name
and depending on the category you chose, Activity or Observation type
Abundance
Upload photograph (the landscape icon not the + sign - which is for recording multiple species for one site)
Then click on the blue button "Save Record"
You will get a green bar across the top of the screen saying the species were successfully recorded. Well done!

If you would like to keep recording and to be able to view your recordings over time and placed on a map, you will want to set up an account by clicking on the "View My Records" in the toolbar.
You will arrive at a page that asks you to sign in with your email
When you do so and click on "Sign in", you will be asked to register as a user and provide your full name
You can tick a checkbox if you would like to take part in the recorder league - if you do your name will appear publicly.

Even if you don't register for an account, you can still look at Species Stats by County and by Date range.

For a detailed explanation of the Citizen Science Portal and Biodiversity Maps, have a look at this 2025 YouTube video by the National Biodiversity Data Centre.