As the ID difficulty file contains all of the taxa covered be the rule sets, the codes describing recording difficulty should cover all of the species. Codes should be numbers (starting with 1).
| code | text |
|---|---|
| 1 | Can be identified at sight in the field by anyone with a bit of experience. Species with which the beginner rapidly becomes familiar. Usually identifiable from a photo. |
| 2 | Can be identified in the field with care and experience. Needs a good view or the netting of a specimen to check, but the specimen can then be released. Beginners need to take specimens until they gain familiarity and experience. May be identifiable from a good photo or series of photos. |
| 3 | Specimen needs checking under magnification and good lighting. Records accepted from experienced recorders without further question (unless the date, region or habitat was especially unusual). Beginners should get specimens checked at first until they gain experience. Usually not identifiable from a photo - unless you are lucky and get exactly the right features! |
| 4 | Voucher specimen should be retained. Confirmation would be required in the majority of cases, e.g. specimen having been checked by an acknowledged expert. |
| 5 | Even the most expert of recorders would seek a second opinion. Specimen may need to be passed on to further experts for comparison with a wider range of material. |
Record Cleaner checks records against rules using organism keys. To check for the key for a species, visit https://www.nhm.ac.uk/our-science/data/uk-species/index
In the id_difficulty file, store the organism key of each taxon, along side the difficulty code for identifying that taxa.
| organism_key | taxon | code |
|---|---|---|
| NBNORG0000011292 | Agenioideus cinctellus | 3 |
| NBNORG0000072027 | Agenioideus sericeus | 5 |
| NBNORG0000072030 | Ammophila sabulosa | 2 |