Submitting a biodiversity sighting

Open the Biodiversity Monitor from the Hub, search for the species or upload a photo to let HydroVision AI identify it, add a location and a photo, tap submit. Takes about 60 seconds.

1. Open the Biodiversity Monitor — tap the purple card on the Hub. You'll see the form, titled "Biodiversity Log."

1. Identify the species. Two options:

• Search by name — start typing a common or scientific name (e.g. "Kingfisher", "Alcedo atthis", "Oak", "Puffball"). Results appear as you type.
• Use HydroVision AI — tap the purple camera icon to take or upload a photo. Our AI analyses the image and suggests a species. More on HydroVision AI

1. Add behaviour or condition notes. Optional dropdown with options like "Alive, healthy", "Injured", "Dead", "Juvenile", etc. If the species you recorded is of conservation concern, a red "concerns" field appears — use it for anything unusual, distressed, or worth flagging.

1. Count. How many individuals. Defaults to 1.

1. Date and time. Defaults to now. Edit if you're logging something you saw earlier — we'd rather have the real timestamp than a convenient one.

1. Location. Two required fields:

• Postcode search — type a UK postcode, hit FIND, it drops a rough map pin
• what3words: the exact location, as three words like filled.count.soap. You do not type it: tap the crosshair icon to use your GPS position, or tap the map, and the three words are filled in for you. With no signal the field stays empty and is filled in when the report is sent. Why what3words?

1. Photo evidence. Attach one if you can; the form will take the report without it. Use the device camera in-app, or upload from your gallery. The photo is resized and saved again on your phone before it is sent, and that re-save does not carry across what your camera wrote into the file. Either way the location on your record is the one you set in step 6, never one read out of a photo.

1. Submit. Tap the submit button. You'll see "Sighting Logged" confirmation.

• Your sighting joins the national dataset
• In the background, if you allowed it, your photo is sent to an outside AI service that says whether it can see the species you reported, and how many. That answer is evidence about the photograph and nothing more. It sits beside your own count, and it never overrules it
• If you have a MyHydroscape account, the sighting appears on your personal dashboard within minutes and earns progress toward your badges
• Your sighting becomes a dot on the Live Data Map

Everything alive and some things that aren't. The full scope:

• Birds — from common garden birds to rare migrants
• Mammals — including bats, marine mammals, and deer
• Fish — coarse, game, sea fish
• Amphibians and reptiles — frogs, newts, snakes, lizards
• Invertebrates — insects, crustaceans, molluscs, arachnids
• Plants and trees — native, naturalised, and invasive
• Fungi — from fly agaric to giant puffball

The HydroLibrary covers 1,004 species with conservation status, identification notes, and reporting guidance. If you can find it in the library, you can log it.

• Photo quality matters. Our AI is more accurate on clear, well-lit photos. If it's windy and the branch is moving, take three and pick the sharpest.
• Record what you saw, not what you think. If you're not certain of the species, use HydroVision AI or record at family level (e.g. "Warbler sp.") rather than guessing.
• One record, one individual (or cluster). If you see two different species in the same spot, submit two records.
• Concerns matter. If a fish looks diseased, a bird is injured, or you see a fish kill, flag it in the concerns field. That's data we want.

• Using HydroVision AI for species identification
• Using HydroVision AI for birdsong and frog calls
• Recording offline
• Who sees my data?