Website Issues

23rd April 2024

We apologise but some functions on our website are currently running very slowly.  This issue is being investigated by our web hosting company.

You may find that Wildlife Recorder is taking longer to start than usual.  To alleviate the issue please update WR4 to the latest version.

NatureLister users may experience timeouts when attempting to upload new workspace data to devices and when trying to download data from their devices.  We would advise not attempting these actions while the server issues are ongoing.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.308)

11th April 2024

New Feature

• New report "Diary" added to Full Sightings Date section.  This report provides an non-tabbed condensed report of sightings by day and location.

Fixes

• Fixed incorrect display of  accented characters in Media Title and Media Descriptions pulled from images while adding them to trips or sightings.
• Other minor fixes.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.300)

19th February 2024

Fixes

• Nature Lister Import.  An error when importing sites with a county or parent site has been fixed.
• An error when exporting Checklist reports as a PDF has been fixed.
• Other minor fixes.

Bird Species Update (115)

8th January 2024

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest IOC 14.1 update.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.297)

11th December 2023

New Features

• You can now switch from the list of trips in a workspace in one database to the list of trips in another database in the same synchronisation group. E.g. switch from birds to butterflies.  If the currently selected trip in the database you are switching from does not exist in the database you are switching to then you will get a message asking if you want to create the trip in the database you are switching to. 
  
  To switch:
  Select the trip you want to switch to, then in the File toolbar select the Switch Database drop-down button and select the database you want to skip to.
  
  
• The log files created when a taxonomy update is performed and when a sightings validation is performed are now date and time stamped so that they do not overwrite reports from previous operations.
  
  
• A new report format has been added for List Analysis.  The new report "List Detailed Breakdown with page breaks" is identical to the existing report ""List Detailed Breakdown" but forces a page break for each species family change.

Fixes

• Using Bing Map functions did not work when the users Windows International settings were set to use a comma as a decimal point.  This has been fixed.
• The informative icons on the Species Update report were not displaying correctly.  This has been fixed
• Other minor fixes.

Bird Species Update (114)

8th November 2023

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest Clements/eBird 2023 update.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Bird Species Update (113)

20th July 2023

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest IOC taxonomy v13.2.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.289)

5th June2023

Fixes

• Using Bing Map functions did not work when the users Windows International settings were set to use a comma as a decimal point.  This has been fixed.
• Other minor fixes.

Bird Species Update (112)

26th January 2023

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest IOC taxonomy v13.1.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.286)

15th February 2023

New Features

• Database Recovery.
  
  We are seeing increasing report requests regarding database files going missing.  This is being caused because it seems that is now very easy in Windows 10 and Windows 11 to inadvertantly change Windows from using the local drive for MyDocuments to using OneDrive.  If this happens after  WR4 has been installed WR4 can no longer find some files.
  
  WR4 will now automatically detect if this has happened and will automatically resolve the issue.   If, on opening a database, the database files cannot be found in the expected location a facility has been added which will allow the user to search for the database files on the computer and then allow then to be used at the found location, or for them to be moved back to the expected location. 

Fixes

• An error  in database synchronisation which caused location polygons not to be synched between databases has been fixed.
• Other minor fixes.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.281)

23rd November 2022

New Features

• List Analysis Reports.
  

  An additional parameter "Extant species only" has been added to the in the List Faunal Zone/Country Analysis, List Country/State Analysis and List State/County Analysis.  If selected all extinct species will be excluded from the analysis results.
  

Fixes

• Sighting imports.
  When closing the Duplicate Sighting form using the Form close button the entire inport was cancelled.  Form close button has been removed the form can now only be closed using the supplied button, and if clicked a warnng is issued and the cancellation need to be confirmed.
• Other minor fixes.

Bird Species Update (111)

31st October 2022

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest Clements/eBird taxonomy v 2022.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.279)

2nd September 2022

New Features

• Family and Genus queries.
  

  Previously, extinct species were not included in these reports.  Extinct species can now optionally be included in the reports by selecting the new option "Include Extinct".
  

• Species Checklist.
  

  A new filter has been added to the distribution type filter allowing a checklist of extinct species to be created.
  
  
  

Fixes

• Creation of a new site using mapping.
  

  When creating a new site for a new trip using the map feature and selecting "New Area", or when selecting a workspace with no geographic limits e.g. the "No Limit" workspace, it was not possible to click on the map to select the exact position of the new site.  
  
  This issue is resolved.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.275)

20th August 2022

Fixes

• Observer selection.
  

  Fixes an issue where chekbox where not showing on the observers selection screen for some combinations of Windows font size and screen resolution.

Bird Species Update (110)

8th August 2022

The latest Bird Species Update is now available.  This update implements changes in the latest IOC Update Version 12.2.

Important Note for Nature Lister Users

If you use Nature Lister you will need to reload your workspaces to your device(s) after you have applied the species update to your WR4 database.  Please undertake the following steps:

1. Export any outstanding trips from Nature Lister and import them into WR4.
2. Backup your WR4 databases.
3. Apply the new species update to your WR4 database.
4. Upload your workspaces from WR4 to the cloud server.
5. Import the new workspaces to your device(s).
   
   

Full instructions for updating the database are in the WR4 help file, there is also a tutorial.

Species Change History

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.273)

17th July 2022

Fixes

• Sightings Import.
  

  Fixes an issue where restarting a paused import fails.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.271)

28th May 2022

Fixes

• Mapping.
  

  Fixes an issue on some computers where clicking on a map does not display the intended pin.

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.270)

24th April 2022

New Features

• Mapping.
  

  Mapping for both Bing Maps and Google Maps uses an internal browser within WR4.  The internal browser component is part of Microsoft Dotnet.  Unfortunately Google Maps has changed and will no longer work with the Dotnet browser component.
  
  Microsoft have introduced a new browser component which will allow Google Maps to function.  WR4 has been changed to incorporate this new browser component. 
  
  The new Microsoft browser component requires the installation of a runtime module, "Microsoft Edge Webview2 Runtime".  When you run the new version of WR4 a check is made to determine whether "Microsoft Edge Webview2 Runtime" is already installed on your machine. If it is not installed a message is displayed allowing you to request that it be installed.  If you do not use mapping in WR4 you can reply "No" to installing the runtime.  If you do use mapping in WR4 you should reply "Yes" to install the "Microsoft Edge Webview2 Runtime", WR4 will close and the runtime will be installed after which you can restart WR4.

Fixes

• A few users have had issues with updating their own databases with the species updates we supply.  Typically the species update completes succesfully but the updated database cannot be copied back to overwrite the previous version, a message like "Error copying updated database the process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process" is displayed.  WR4 has been changed so that if this situation occurs the updated file is kept and the next time WR4 is started and the database is opened a message will be displayed which allows the update to be completed.  
  
  Click "Yes" to complete the update or "No" to discard the update.
  
  
• Various other fixes.
  

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.255)

24th March 2022

New Features

• Export to Birdtrack using Scientific names fr species.
  

  If you export sightings to Birdtrack and you record your sightings at the sub-species level you may encounter issues with species name matches in your Birdtrack import.  This is because Birdtrack common names for subspecies are not the same as thosed used by WR4.  Birdtrack subspecies names are also rather inconsistant.  Using scientific names for species in your export from WR4 to Birdtrack will most likely reduce any species name mismatches.  
  
  To send scientific names to Birdtrack instaed of common names you can select the new parameter in the WR4 Export form as shown below.
  
  

• Fixes 
  
  Various fixes.
  

Wildlife Recorder 4 (4.1.250)

4th March 2022

New Features

• Media Strip.
  

  The media strip for a trip, sighting or media list can be expanded by clicking the Expand button at the top of the Media Strip.  A file sized media window will be displayed.
  
  Hovering the mouse over an image in the media strip will display the media title and description.
  
  A new Internal image display option within WR4 allows pictures (jpg, png, gif, tif and bmp) to be displayed in an internal WR4 image viewer.  The internal image viewer allows you to page through all media attached to the currently selected trip, sighting or media list species.  All non-picture attachments, e.g. videos , documents etc. will continue to use the default Windows viewer for the type of attachment.  By default WR4 will continue to use the Windows picture viewer, to use the internal viewer it needs to be enabled by setting the Use Internal viewer option in the WR4 Preferences Media tab.

• Fixes 
  
  Various fixes.