Colleen Turner is our Community Engagement Officer for the Giving Nature a Home project in Glasgow. In today's blog, she's excitedly looking forward to this year's City Nature Challenge. Read on to find out how you can get involved!
It's City Nature Challenge time again! Time to explore our city and discover our wonderful, urban nature and wildlife.
The City Nature Challenge weekend happens from Friday 28 April to Monday 1 May, and cities across the globe compete to get the most biological recordings. This means that Edinburgh, Glasgow and areas in both regions will be competing against one another, which should make for a fun weekend. The Glasgow region includes Renfrewshire and Ayrshire while Edinburgh also includes Fife and the Lothians, so you can take part almost anywhere in the central belt.
Every species counts, big or small, so don't be afraid to get up close and personal with your local wildlife. Image credit: Rob Carmier.
Now, stereotypically, biological recording was seen to be quite exclusive and very technical, however, there is an app called iNaturalist which makes recording easier and accessible! This app makes it easy for the whole family to get involved and to begin recording wildlife, and what better way to get started than during City Nature Challenge weekend.
Not only is it fun, but it is incredibly rewarding because you are creating a snapshot of the wildlife in your area. The great thing about iNaturalist is that the recordings (once verified by a recorder on the app) are transferred to the local biological recording centres. In turn, this allows conservationists to view and research how species are coping amidst the climate crisis. Last year’s results are as follows: in Greater Glasgow we finished with 1,864 observations of 553 species by 94 observers. This smashes 2021’s records, and it was great to see so many more people take part and many more species recorded. In Greater Edinburgh 1,106 observations were made of 448 species by 101 observers with similar increases in participation and diversity of species.
Don't forget to count the more common species too, such as this Woodpigeon. Image credit: Ben Hall.
Get your phone at the ready to capture the nature on your doorstep and help aid conservationists to see what species are increasing or declining. We are all part of our planet so let’s help in any way we can. And after the City Nature Challenge weekend, please do continue to record whenever you are in your greenspaces.
The Giving Nature a Home team are holding a Bioblitz event at Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery on Saturday 29 April, 12pm-4pm. We will be joined by TCV, Glasgow Natural History Society and some experts to do activities and crafts to help you with identifying nature and wildlife! Come along for a fun, nature filled afternoon!
Happy recording everyone!
To learn more about iNaturalist, click here.
Header image shows a male mallard in a pond flapping its wings. Credit: Ben Hall.