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WildKnowledge

How UK nature data actually fits together.

Plenty of resources explain what Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) legally requires — GOV.UK, the Planning Advisory Service, CIEEM, UKGBC. Almost none explain how the underlying datasets relate to, differ from, and sometimes contradict each other, or how the legal and data picture shifts across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.

WildKnowledge fills that gap. It is an overlay between the statutory sources and the practitioner: it translates dataset methodology and cross-nation nuance into plain, opinionated, practically useful explanation — without hosting or duplicating the statutory source material itself.

Who it's for​

Ecologists, local planning authorities, developers, and local nature groups who need to understand not just what the rules are, but why the data behaves the way it does — and where it can quietly mislead you.

How it's built​

WildKnowledge is built and maintained by WildStack, an automated BNG desk-based baseline assessment platform. We treat certain datasets in certain ways for good reasons, and this is where we explain that reasoning in the open. It is a distinct, standalone resource — not a marketing microsite — designed to be genuinely useful in its own right.

How to read it​

Every page follows one of two repeatable shapes, so the whole site reads as one coherent voice rather than a pile of disconnected articles:

  • Topic Pages explain a legal framework or a concept — The Biodiversity Gain Hierarchy, What is a Local Nature Recovery Strategy?
  • Data Source Profiles explain a single dataset — what it is, how it's made, where it fails, and how it compares to the datasets it's often confused with.

Every page ends with WildStack's take: a specific, opinionated observation, not a neutral summary. We tell you where we think common practice gets it wrong.

Three principles worth knowing up front​

  1. England-first, nation-aware. Full depth on England; other nations appear as inline asides only where the difference is real.
  2. We explain methodology, we don't republish content. Every source is linked, never reproduced.
  3. "Last updated", not "guaranteed current". Every page carries a review date. There is no freshness SLA yet — check the primary source before you rely on anything time-sensitive.

Start browsing from the sidebar, or jump to Legal Frameworks, Data Sources, or Nature & Climate Context.

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