Credit where credits due! The awesome image of the Wild Boar is by djhird from iNaturalist here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/198280590 where it is licenced CC-BY-NC

The start to this year, n particular the last few weeks has been a torrent of data related theorising around how we can best view data in the light of Nature Recovery, Local Nature Recovery Strategies and everything else that follows.

While looking around at methods for undertaking habitat connectivity modelling i stumbled across an ESRI webinar on species distribution modelling. Something I’ve had a passing interest in but never really explored. The webinar was an excellent introduction to the different methods available through ESRI’s ArcGIS Pro platform (below)

What particularly caught my interest was the demonstration of using bioclimatic variables to classify regions within an area. This immediately feels like something we should be doing as part of a Lancashire Nature Recovery plan, how can we truly support nature recovery locally if we don’t fully understand the environmental limitations of the landscape. Conversely how can we meaningfully decide where and how to create opportunities for species if we don’t understand their potential range?

Needless to say it’s got my mind running and this is certainly something i hope to look into in more detail in the future.

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