Bore Place: Where Ecology Meets Community
This case study explores how Bore Place, a 500-acre estate focused on regenerative agriculture and citizen science, uses Coreo to streamline data collection and empower community involvement in ecological monitoring.
The Challenges: Engaging the Community in Data Collection
Ecologist Heather Dickie joined Bore Place in 2021 to expand their nature and citizen science programme. The programme monitors six key indicator groups to assess the impact of the regenerative practices on the estate’s biodiversity.
“One of the main aims of the programme is to monitor species on the estate in a meaningful way to help inform better ways of farming and managing spaces for nature. Hopefully, the data we collect can help us turn the tide on the massive decline of species that we’ve seen over the years.”
Involving the whole community is a key part of the ethos of the Bore Place and Heather’s main priorities were to find a data collection system which:
- Enables data to be collected accurately and efficiently from a wide range of different users
- Is complex enough to collect and manage the data needed effectively, whilst being easy to use and flexible enough to evolve with the projects
Coreo: The Perfect Solution
Coreo’s flexibility is one of the main features which attracted Heather and she soon realised that Coreo would fulfil all her main objectives. Heather was delighted from the outset and she was particularly pleased how easy it is to use the app. Heather was quickly able to build suitable survey projects and to set up contributor access to them, enabling volunteer groups, school children and farmers to submit their data with ease.
“It was a very personal onboarding process which was lovely and as soon as I had been shown how to use the app, I was up and running. I love Coreo! It is so flexible and easy to use and it has enabled us to engage the whole community in valuable ecological surveys.”
Heather is also impressed with the support she has received from the Natural Apptitude team:
“It feels very much like a bespoke service…There’s a real understanding at Natural Apptitude of what’s needed – as new features have come out they are all things that make my life easier.”
Benefits from using Coreo
Enhanced Data Collection: Coreo has helped Bore Place establish an efficient survey process, collecting valuable data on the six indicator groups and enabling Bore Place to track the impact of their regenerative practices.
Empowered Community Involvement: Coreo’s user friendly interface provides seamless data collection by a diverse range of participants including local volunteer groups, students and farmers.
“One of the main reasons I love using Coreo is how easy it is to get as many people involved as possible. Local community involvement is really important and all the extra data comes straight into my database.”
Improved Collaboration with Farmers: The offline maps feature proved crucial for farmers surveying in areas with limited connectivity – allowing them to contribute data using the app or traditional methods.
Project Adaptability: Coreo’s flexibility allows Heather to modify surveys to fit the unique needs of each project.
Increased Efficiency: Coreo eliminates the need for manual data entry, saving significant time and effort. Heather can now focus on data analysis, field activities, and volunteer events.
“It’s quick and easy to collect the data in the field but the greatest benefit for me is Coreo’s data management – everything is collated and I can filter the data in any way and obtain real time updates on what people are doing out in the field, which is great.”
Looking Ahead: Expanding Community Engagement
Heather aims to introduce Coreo to local farm clusters although she acknowledges the potential challenge of transitioning them from traditional methods. She hopes her experience will demonstrate Coreo’s benefits in facilitating wider data sharing and more meaningful analysis.
Coreo: Aligning with Bore Place’s Values
By empowering everyone in the community to contribute to data collection, not only is Coreo helping the team at Bore Place to understand the ecological trends and impact of regenerative farming, but Coreo is also contributing to Bore Place’s values to inspire, regenerate, collaborate, be inclusive and take ownership.
You can check out all the latest Citizen Science events on the Bore Place website. On Sunday 30th June they are holding a BioBlitz and Family Bug Hunt – an opportunity for everyone to learn how to ID and spot different species and record them on the app. If you are in their neck of the woods, why not get involved!