Kent Moths

Submitting Data

Ian Hunter (macro recorder) and Dave Shenton (micro recorder) collect data for VC15 (East Kent) and VC16 (West Kent, including large sections of 'Greater London'). All records we receive are valued, as every piece of data helps build towards a better understanding of Kent's moths.

This page provides more information on submitting data, but if you have any further questions, please contact us at mothsinkent@gmail.com.

We have to submit our records to the national database in a specified format. By submitting your data following that format, it's less likely that errors will be introduced, as otherwise we must manipulate the data.

The easiest way to do this is by using our excel templates, downloadable below. They include monthy summary tables, early & late dates and peak counts, so you can easily make sense of your records.

• Macro Template using Common Name
• Macro Template using RES Number
• Micro Template using Latin Name
• Micro Template using RES Number

We can also accept records submitted in other standardized formats:

• Using Mapmate — simply extract it into a spreadsheet before sending to us
• Entering directly into the National Moth Recording Scheme online system — your data will automatically be forwarded to us
• Uploading to iRecord — we also pick up sightings logged here

Feel free to submit data at the end of the year or during, whichever best suits you. To check which vice county your records are from, visit this VC Map, and enter your grid reference or postcode.

Butterfly Conservation have agreed a formal process around the verification of moth records in discussion with the leading national and regional experts, helping clarify the level of supporting information needed in order to verify records. Each species is assigned a grade, the meaning of which is explained in the first document below:

• Verification Guidelines
• Macro Verification Grades
• Micro Verification Grades

If you think you have an interesting record, please take good quality images and retain the specimen for a short while. Get in touch as soon as you can, and we will advise whether it would be worth you sending the specimen on to us.

Whilst some moths are easily identifiable, many can be very challenging even to the more experienced observer, and plenty require detailed examination (gen.det.) if they are to be confirmed to species level. Although we all want to put a name to everything, we just have to accept that sometimes it won't be possible to get a positive ID. verification.

Whilst the occasional moth can be gen detted to get a confirmed identification, it is not feasible to do this for every individual. Sometimes our desire to 'be accurate' can lead to false results. In situations where a record is not known to species level, please submit it as 'agg'. This will help speed up our processing of the data, as we won't need to seek verification.

The wider environmental picture is becoming more and more bleak, and our wildlife, including our moths, is under enormous pressure, both from habitat loss and climate change. The reality is that we only know a fraction about the ecology and status of Kent's moths. This makes it more vital than ever to record moths.

Our records, which span over several hundred years, are able to show which species are suffering from the steepest declines, thus enabling them to be targeted for conservation.

If data is provided to the county moth recorder then it will be assumed that the owner of the data gives permission for us to share information with interested, not for profit, parties. If you do not want your data to be used in this way then please let us know when you submit it.

By submitting information you are agreeing that it may be collated and disseminated manually or electronically, including via the Internet, for conservation, environmental decision-making, education, research and other public benefit uses in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s data access policy.

Names and contact details of recorders will be used for administration and verification purposes only. Your contact details will not be passed to other parties without your consent, whilst your name will form part of the record that is collated and disseminated in accordance with Butterfly Conservation’s privacy policy.