Privacy Policy

Last updated: 10 July 2026

This policy explains how Moss Lane Farm ("we", "us", "our") handles personal information when you use our website and our Nature Recorder mobile app (the "app"). We are the data controller for the purposes of UK data protection law (the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018).

Who we are: Moss Lane Farm, Chat Moss, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom
Contact: hello@mosslanefarm.org.uk

We've designed the app to collect as little personal information as possible, and we do not use advertising or third-party tracking.

Information we collect

Your account. When you first open the app it creates a simple, pseudonymous account for you automatically — a friendly "farm animal" name (for example "Clever Lamb") and a random identifier for your device. You can optionally:

choose a display name and an animal avatar; and
add an email address so your records aren't lost if you change phone. Adding an email is entirely optional.

Nature records. When you log a sighting we store what you record: the species or a description, a count, habitat, any notes, the position you tap on the illustrated farm map, the date and time, and any photos or videos you choose to add.

Location. If you choose to add your location to a sighting, the app records your device's GPS coordinates at that moment so the sighting is mapped to where the wildlife was actually seen. Location is optional — you can record wildlife without it, and it is only captured when you tap "Use my location" (or if you have already granted the location permission). You can turn the permission off at any time in your device settings.

Technical information. Basic information needed for the app to work, such as the device identifier described above and standard request logs.

We do not ask for your home address or phone number, and the app does not contain third-party advertising or analytics trackers.

How we use your information

To run the Nature Recorder — save your sightings and keep them attached to your account across sessions and devices.
To place sightings on the map (using your chosen map position and, if you added it, your GPS location) and to build an accurate picture of biodiversity on the farm.
To show the community biodiversity map and recent sightings, which are visible to other users of the app and on our website (see "Sharing" below).
To maintain, secure and improve the service.

Our legal bases are your consent (for example, choosing to add an email, a photo, or your location) and our legitimate interests in running a community nature-recording project and keeping it secure.

Sharing and publication

Community sightings are public. Records you submit — including the species, count, notes, map position, the display name you choose and any photos or videos you attach — are shown to other people on the community map and recent-sightings feed, and may appear on our website. Please don't include anything private in a sighting, and only attach photos you're happy to share.

We use trusted service providers to host and run the service (our hosting and platform infrastructure, provided through the eightyfour studio). They process data only on our instructions. We never sell your personal information. We may disclose information if required by law. If our hosting processes data outside the UK, we rely on appropriate safeguards (such as UK "adequacy" regulations or standard contractual clauses).

Photos and videos

Photos and videos you add are uploaded to our service and shown publicly alongside the sighting. Media files can sometimes contain embedded metadata (for example the time, camera settings, or location). Only add media you have the right to share, and avoid capturing other people — especially children — without permission.

Children's privacy

The Nature Recorder is often used by children at supervised sessions, including Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) events. We take this seriously and keep the app child-friendly by design:

accounts are pseudonymous — no real name is required, and children can use a farm-animal name and animal avatar;
an email address is optional and never required to record nature;
location is optional and off until switched on — the app never tracks location in the background and only reads GPS when someone taps "Use my location" while adding a sighting; and
there is no advertising and no behavioural profiling.

Where children take part in organised sessions, the organisers and parents/guardians are responsible for supervising use and providing any consent required, including for using the location and camera features. A parent or guardian can ask us to access or delete a child's records at any time by emailing hello@mosslanefarm.org.uk.

Keeping and deleting your information

You can edit or delete your own sightings in the app at any time, and you can permanently delete your whole account and all of its data from the app in a couple of taps — see how to delete your account. Deletion is immediate and irreversible. If you can't use the app, contact us and we'll remove your personal information for you, unless we're required to keep some of it by law.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law you have the right to access, correct, delete, or restrict our use of your personal information, to object to certain processing, and to data portability. To exercise any of these, contact hello@mosslanefarm.org.uk. You also have the right to complain to the UK Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk.

Security

We use reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your information. No online service can be guaranteed completely secure, but we work to keep your data safe and to limit what we collect in the first place.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. We'll change the "last updated" date above and, where appropriate, tell you in the app.

Contact us

Questions about this policy or your information? Email hello@mosslanefarm.org.uk or write to Moss Lane Farm, Chat Moss, Greater Manchester, United Kingdom.