Almost 174,000 records submitted to citizen science portal in 2025
A total of 173,873 records were submitted to Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal last year, according to the National Biodiversity Data Centre.
The online platform allows members of the public to record sightings of various animal and plant species that they come across.
Last year saw an increase of more than 20,000 records when compared to the 2024 season, during which 152,711 records were submitted.
Citizen science portal
Birds were the most recorded group with 40,067 records, followed by moths with 39,696 records and flowering plants on 34,743 records.
However, the National Biodiversity Data Centre noted that none of these groups are represented in the top three most recorded species.
Last year, the most recorded species was the red fox, followed by the Red Admiral butterfly and the 7-spot ladybird.
While this can be attributed to a species having a particularly good year, in many cases the top recorded species have been the focus of a national project or survey.
The red fox has been widely publicised due to the work of the Urban Fox Survey.
The work of the Ladybird Atlas 2025 project has also placed a focus on the 7-spot ladybird in recent years.
The following table provides a breakdown of the most commonly recorded species in 2025:
| Species | Number of records |
|---|---|
| Fox | 2,266 |
| Red Admiral | 1,794 |
| 7-spot Ladybird | 1,500 |
| Speckled Wood | 1,337 |
| Asian hornet | 1,295 |
| Small Tortoiseshell | 1,219 |
| Robin | 1,218 |
| Buzzard | 1,217 |
| Hedgehog | 1,071 |
| Blackbird | 1,062 |
The National Biodiversity Data Centre noted that these records are considered unvalidated, which is particularly relevant when it comes to the appearance of the Asian hornet on the list.
After the initial Asian hornet recording last year, it is understood the online portal received a huge amount of suspected sightings.
However, there were only a very small number of verified sightings of the invasive insect species.
Records
In 2025, records were submitted from 9,607 individual e-mail addresses, which is the largest number of individual records submitted through Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal since 2021.
It also marks the second highest year for the number of recorders submitting records.
In 2025, 82 recorders submitted over 500 records and from this group, 43 recorders submitted over 1,000 records.
The 'top recorder' submitted 5,434 records last year, which works out to almost 15 records submitted each day throughout the year.
"The level of time, effort and expertise given by these 'Champion Recorders' is truly amazing.
"This isn’t anything new though and we have noticed very similar numbers of these very active recorders since 2020," the National Biodiversity Data Centre said.
The centre added that Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal can be used by anyone.
If you see a species and are sure of its identification, the details can be submitted through the National Biodiversity Data Centre website so that the observation can be added to national datasets.
