Garden Bioblitz Goes National

First, what’s a Bioblitz?

I think one of the best descriptions I’ve heard is that it’s a kind of ‘Time Team’ for wildlife: people descend on an area and try to find as many species of native flora and fauna as possible in a 24-hour period. It’s a great way to see the sheer diversity of wildlife that can live undetected even in the most unlikely of places. 

The habitat most people know best is also one of the largest in Britain, and about the most understudied: their own gardens. That’s why our aim with the Garden Bioblitz is to bring the two together: to help people discover just how full of life their gardens are and collect useful biological data.

During a successful trial with 24 participants in 2012 we (the Bioblitz Team – made up of four foolhardy volunteers) received 2231 individual records, including 966 different species from 25 species groups.

So, this year the Garden Bioblitz goes national.

It will be taking place over the weekend of the 1st and 2nd June, with beginners, amateur naturalists and experts using iSpot and Twitter for help with identification, and iRecord to record as many native species as they can find in a 24 hour period in their garden (or local patch).

It’s free, and anyone in the UK can take part. So if your organisation would like to join in, or you are an individual who’d like to have a go, please take a look at our website at www.gardenbioblitz.org  

You can also contact us via Twitter @GardenBioblitz and by email gardenbioblitz@gmail.com with any queries, suggestions and comments.

@GardenBioblitz
Jane Adams @WildlifeStuff
Richard Comont @RichardComont
Liz Shaw @LillaShaw
John van Breda @JohnVanBreda

Written by by Jane Adams & Liz Shaw

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