Please help us survey our flora and fauna
We’re starting our very own citizen science project, and we need your help to record the wildlife on our site.
We are taking great leaps in our knowledge and records of the tree collection, but still lack decent records of the huge number of native plants, fungi, invertebrates, birds and mammals at the Tortworth Arboretum.
We are asking anyone who visits the site to help us with our records. No prior experience or knowledge necessary! It’s really easy to do using the free iNaturalist application on a phone (a paper alternative will be available from 13 March for those who prefer not to use phones) – read on for more information.
Steps to get started:
- Download the iNaturalist app on your smartphone
- Create a user account
- Start recording your observations!
- Join the project at Community > Projects > Search ‘Tortworth Arboretum’
Tips:
All submissions gratefully received! – it doesn’t have to be anything new or unusual, it is all valuable data.
Whilst you can add the trees if you wish, the main focus is on native species: any plants, shrubs, insects, fungi, birds, goats.. (ok, not goats).
You don’t need to know what a species is, the community will help identify your observation. You can leave the ‘Species name’ field blank or get things in the right direction by adding a general classification e.g. ‘Fungi’.
Take extra photos that will help people ID; close-ups of flowers, and the underside of leaves or mushrooms, being good things to include.
You can add observations from your phone or computer, using new or old photos (as long as you remember where you took them!).
Location is important. This will be recorded automatically if you log an observation whilst on site. If uploading a sighting later on please be sure to use the location of where you saw it.
Not a Smartphone user?
We are going to install a box on site where you can collect and return a paper survey form to record the species you see on site. These will be available from 13 March when we launch the project at our March Open Day.
