Sensitive Species Records UK Procedure
As of March 2025, the RSPB holds c.15 million species records within Merlin, the RSPB’s internal species database. These records originate from within the RSPB or from external parties, for use by staff to fulfil their roles and the RSPB’s charitable objectives.
These standards are to ensure that species data are treated consistently across the organisation, both internally and for sharing data externally.
Who does this apply to?
These standards apply to all digital species data within RSPB for the UK (international data are not yet covered). Rules can only be applied currently to data within Merlin. Species data outside of Merlin, if shared, should adhere to the spirit of these rules, although as this can be hard to achieve through other systems (record blurring for instance), it is important that species data are managed in Merlin where possible, and that Merlin is the primary source for supplying data to external parties.
Summary of content
- Access levels and how they apply to different user groups
- Sensitivity rules by species, site, and dataset
- How we determine whether data are shared externally
- Detail on how to apply the rules is available in the appendices
Author & contact
- Mark Gurney, Data Scientist
- Gill Dowse, Principal Data Manager
- Steve Blain, Head of Data Management Services
Rule sign-off
7 January 2025
Review date
Last review January 2026.
Executive Summary
Rules on how we share species data are necessary to standardise our approach across the organisation. Standard rules allow us to automate more of the process of data sharing and therefore to spend more of our valuable resources where we can make a difference.
By necessity, the rules are complex, as we balance the desire to be open and transparent with protecting sensitive information. We need staff, partners, and clients to be confident the correct data are being shared at the correct resolution. In summary, the rules cover:
- sensitive species (as specified in approved lists and applied at the record level)
- sensitive sites (such as some of our reserves and some partner owned or occupied land)
- sensitive datasets (covering off other sensitivities and embargos, to allow for exceptions that are not covered by the other rules).
Once data have been through these rules, we will know whether they should be fully visible, blurred, or hidden for internal and public uses, and whether we can share them through our external data request service. Each section in this document sets out the different rules and how they are applied.
The appendices contain detailed information on the rules, including some examples which can help explain how they will work in practice.
Who can see what?
Each record (species observation) will have a sensitivity of open, sensitive, or restricted. There will be an RSPB sensitivity and a public sensitivity. The RSPB sensitivity will apply to RSPB users (staff and volunteers). The public sensitivity will apply to published data (such as the NBN Atlas).
The sensitivity determines who can see what. Some RSPB staff will be Privileged RSPB users. They will be able to see sensitive records as though they were open. Our data request service will share data under contract to authorised clients outside the RSPB.
Dataset owners
Open: Full details
Sensitive: Full details
Restricted: Full details
RSPB Privileged
Open: Full details
Sensitive: Full details*
Restricted: No access
RSPB Other
Open: Full details.
Sensitive: Blurred. No comments, location names, dataset name, or observer name. Grid ref and shapes blurred.
Restricted: No access
Public
Open: Full details. Shapes blurred to 1km resolution
Sensitive: Blurred. No comments, location names, dataset name, or observer name. Grid ref and shapes blurred.
Restricted: No access
Data requests
No comments, location names, dataset name, or observer name. Full grid refs**. Shapes blurred to 1km resolution. All data shared under contract
* Montagu’s Harrier and Purple Sandpiper will be blurred to at least 100 km in the breeding season even for RSPB Privileged users, and not supplied in data requests unless agreed with Investigations
** Hen Harrier, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Capercaillie, and Common Crane will not be supplied at less than 1km resolution to Data requests.
The Data requests user applies to our standard request from consultants for planning applications. These are almost all of the requests we supply. Requests from researchers, conservation partners, statutory agencies, or private individuals will be assessed case by case in consultation with appropriate staff. This is our current practice.
We can only protect species from harmful development if we supply the records to planning requests. That is why we include sensitive and restricted records in external data requests for planning applications. A 1km resolution is precise enough for a record to be used in the planning process.
Assigning sensitivity
Sensitive records
A record can be sensitive for any of these reasons:
Sensitive species
These are taxa that are blurred by the BTO BirdTrack rules (birds), the BSBI rules (vascular plants), or the NBN Atlas rules (other species). The blur is 10km for most of the sensitive species, apart from mammals, which are usually blurred to 1km. There are 37 birds that are blurred to 100km during the breeding season in at least one region of Britain, and 40 in Northern Ireland. RSPB ordinary users will be able to see these blurred to 10km, but for the public the blur will be 100km.
Montagu’s Harrier and Purple Sandpiper records will be blurred to 100km during the breeding season even for RSPB privileged users. They will not be supplied externally unless Investigations have agreed.
There are a few sensitive species that are very sensitive to disturbance and persecution. Records of these will be supplied to data requests at no less than 1km resolution. We concluded with Investigations that this level of blurring would still make the records useful to the planning process but give enough protection in the rare hypothetical case that supplied data were shared with unauthorised people. The species are Hen Harrier, Golden Eagle, White-tailed Eagle, Capercaillie, and Common Crane.
We might class a species as sensitive at a single location. This is discouraged, but it might be necessary if there are species records that need to be sensitive that are not covered by the rules and do not merit a separate dataset. For occasional breeders, like Icterine Warbler, this might apply to one year only.
Sensitive locations
Sensitive features are those that are of a sensitive type, such as camera traps, nest boxes, and farm boundaries. We assign sensitivity from a list of sensitive types rather than using the feature sensitivity from Merlin. Records that are associated with Sensitive features will be blurred to 1km or 10km resolution:
- 1km blur will be used for sites like roosts of species that are blurred to 1km, or for locations like camera traps
- 10km blur will be used for sites like roosts of species that are blurred to 10km, or for locations like sensitive private landholdings.
Feature boundaries are usually shared externally at 1km resolution, so even if a feature is Open, any records made against it will usually be blurred to 1km resolution for the public and for data requests. However, the record will not be considered sensitive just because of this, so other details (comments, location name, dataset name, observer) will still be visible if the record is open.
Records that are or might be from Confidential RSPB reserves will be restricted for public use.
Sensitive datasets
If a dataset is sensitive or restricted all its records will be sensitive or restricted. A dataset can be marked as sensitive for one of these reasons:
- Species or habitat at risk of harm or disturbance
- Landowner/occupier privacy
- Data agreement
- Embargoed for research
- GDPR
The blur for sensitive datasets is 10km. For RSPB users, we expect 225 datasets to be sensitive and 4,034 to be open. For the public, we expect more than 80% of our shareable datasets to be open. For information on applying restrictions to a dataset, please see “Detailed information on how to apply the rules” in the appendices.
Sensitive records
If a record from another provider is marked as sensitive, it will be sensitive in RSPB systems too. These will be blurred to 10km unless the provider has indicated a different blur. We currently have 1,124 of these in Merlin.
Restricted records
We expect there to be far fewer internally restricted records because there are few records that we cannot show to RSPB ordinary users at a blurred resolution.
Species or locations will not be restricted for internal RSPB users. As noted above, Montagu’s Harrier and Purple Sandpiper will be blurred in the breeding season even for privileged users. If records or sites need to be restricted, they will need to be in restricted datasets. As indicated in the table above, restricted datasets will not be visible to anyone beyond the dataset owners (and system administrators).
Restricted datasets
A dataset can be marked as restricted for one of the sensitivity reasons listed above. There are currently 18 datasets that have been collected by or supplied to the RSPB on condition that only certain individuals are able to see or use the data. These will be restricted. We expect all other datasets to be open or sensitive for RSPB use.
Shareable datasets
Data will be shared outside the RSPB only if the RSPB is listed as supplier of the dataset. If the RSPB is not a supplier, the dataset is not shareable and is effectively restricted for public use even if it is not marked as restricted. We expect that of the shareable datasets, only 40 will be restricted from public use. These will still be supplied in standard data requests.