Terms & conditions

CanalSpot Terms and Conditions of Use 

Website terms of use

This website is operated by the Canal and River Trust. The Canal and River Trust, established in 2012 and formally British Waterways, is a national registered Charity in England & Wales (Charity number: 1146792) and is responsible for maintaining 2,000 miles of waterways across England and Wales. The Trust with the Trust maintains the nations' third largest collection of listed heritage structures, as well as museums, archives, and hundreds of important wildlife sites. The network provides crucial corridors for wildlife and habitats and recording data, through ecologists and volunteer community is integral to evidence-based nature recovery and monitoring.

Using the CanalSpot website

The CanalSpot website is maintained for your personal use and viewing. The access and use of the website featuring these terms of use constitutes your acceptance of these terms of use. They take effect from the date on which you first use this website after these terms and conditions apply.  We reserve the right to delete accounts of users who infringe these terms and conditions.

You agree to use this site only for lawful purposes, and in a manner that does not infringe the rights of or restrict or inhibit the use and enjoyment of this site by any third party. Such restriction or inhibition includes, without limitation, conduct which is unlawful, or which may harass or cause distress or inconvenience to any person, and the transmission of obscene or offensive content or disruption of normal flow of dialogue within this site.

If you do not agree, please do not use the site.  Do not use this website if you are under 16 years of age.

You can request that your CanalSpot account is cancelled at any time by logging in, accessing the edit page on ‘My Account’ and selecting the ‘Cancel Account’ button. Any records you have submitted will be preserved as part of a long-term scientific data set which will continue to contribute to our research and understanding and be stored indefinitely. This includes the details of biological records you have submitted, the analytical information associated with them, and including your name as the recorder and an automatically generated code to uniquely identify individual users of CanalSpot. After account deletion, the associated data will continue to be maintained in accordance with the terms of use that you agreed to when signing up to CanalSpot. 

Use of the CanalSpot website is also subject to the iRecord terms of use (https://irecord.org.uk/terms-use), as they may be updated from time to time.

Personal data

The basis on which we process any personal data we collect from you, or that you provide to use, is covered by our privacy notice.

Non-personal data content

When you use this website, you create and upload content - for instance, wildlife observations and records, photos of wildlife and your descriptions of it. By putting this information on the site, you are saying that:

1. the content is yours, or you have the permission of the owner to agree to this usage
2. you agree that the content can be used on this site
3. you agree that your wildlife observations (excluding photos) can be made publicly available for wider use and may be shared with other relevant data users (see below)
4. you agree that your records will be available to expert verifiers acting on behalf of recording schemes and projects, who may contact you in connection with those records, and may add comments or add a corrected species identification to the records

In order to support conservation and research, all biological records submitted to CanalSpot will be made available to the relevant National Recording Schemes and Societies (and including any county recorders associated with such schemes and societies) based on the species recorded.

Transfer of data to national or local record centres

CanalSpot will routinely transfer data to local or national record centres. Data inputted into CanalSpot online recording system automatically sends data to the NBN via the BRC, through the iRecord system.

As part of this process, we may pass your records and contact details to an external record verifier who may get in touch for the purpose of validation and verification of records. This communication will primarily be through the iRecord system (www.brc.ac.uk/irecord) that provides a verification system for CanalSpot and other biological surveys.

Records will also be made available to other organisations with a bona fide use for biological records.  This includes the following organisations and may be extended to other organisations in future: Local Environment Record Centres, Country Nature Conservation Bodies, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the National Biodiversity Network (via their Atlas websites), and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility.

Where species are deemed to be “sensitive” the record may have its location blurred or may be treated as confidential. Lists of sensitive species may include, but may not be limited by, lists agreed with the UK government conservation agencies.

Accuracy of information

The information in this website is given in good faith and for general information and interest only. It is subject to change without notice. The Trust is not responsible for any inaccuracies and makes no representation and gives no warranty as to its accuracy.

The information in this website should not be relied on and does not constitute any form of advice or recommendation. By using this website you confirm that you have not relied on any such information. Any arrangements made between you and any third party named or referred to on the website are entirely at your sole risk and responsibility.

Nothing on this website is intended to be nor should be construed as an offer to enter into a contractual relationship.

Virus protection

We make every effort to check and test material at all stages of production. It is always wise for you to run an anti-virus program on all material downloaded from the internet. We cannot accept any responsibility for any loss, disruption or damage to your data or your computer system which may occur while using material derived from this website.

Cookies

We want to make the CanalSpot website easy to use, useful and reliable. This involves placing small amounts of information on your computer or mobile device in small files known as cookies. This website uses cookies to maintain your browsing session and enhance site functionality, and to monitor the usage of the site with Google Analytics. This information helps us to maintain website performance and support funding. Read more about how Google manages the data it collects. Your web browser has settings which allow you to manage these small files yourself by removing or blocking cookies. Learn more about them through advice from the Information Commissioner's Office.

Disclaimer

All information provided by Canal and River Trust on this website is made available to provide immediate access for the convenience of interested persons. While Canal and River Trust believe the information to be reliable, human or mechanical error remains a possibility. Therefore, Canal and River Trust do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or correct sequencing of the information. Neither Canal and River Trust, nor any of the sources of the information shall be responsible for any errors or omissions, or for the use of or results obtained from the use of this information.

Changes to these terms

These terms may be updated from time to time (current version is 03 June 2026). The latest version will always be available at CanalSpot. If changes are made to these terms in the future, a prominent notice will be posted on the website.