Froglife's amphibian and reptile records from the Dragon Finder App for Great Britain in 2016-2020 (inclusive)

Quality Control

Recorders can use the inbuilt identifcation key to improve species identifcation at any lifestage. Data have been uploaded from mobile phone devices using GPS coordinates so location and date information is likely to be accurate. Species identification was confirmed by the public using the Dragon Finder app. Experienced Froglife staff/volunteers then verify all submissions allocating each a validation status inline with NBN criteria. Records deemed ëunacceptedí are not included. The identification of common species is likely to be correct, but the data is citizen science led thus open to varying degrees of accuracy particularly with less common species.

Method steps

1. Members of the public recorded the amphibian and reptile species observed. Records were submitted via the Dragon Finder App and data were downloaded into Microsoft Access. Data were checked and location records verified using photos and distributional records for each species.

Data coverage is from England, Scotland and Wales. Records may be biased towards populated areas, especially within the south east of England. Location data were collected from moblie phones using GPS coordinates so are accurate to the nearest 1 km. This is presence only data and abscence of a species cannot be inferred.