Topic outline

  • Native Species

    Native Species

  • Get ready for your workshop!

    Check out our resource list before your workshop so that you can have everything ready for the session!

    Ask your class, "How many used plastic bottles can we collect to reuse?"

    Make sure each individual taking part has everything from the list below or pair up and gather enough for one between two!


    You will need:

      a plastic bottle

      scissors and a pin to make small holes

      roughly 20cm of string or twine

      two sticks or old pencils that you want to recycle

     bird seed (optional as could be later at home if taking home)


    Twigs, string, bird food and plastic bottle


     

    • Free Resources

      Spotting species out and about

      Open Air Laboratories (OPAL) was a UK-wide initiative to enable everyone to get hands-on with nature and was led by Imperial College London and primarily funded by the Big Lottery Fund. 

      They created these brilliant identification guides and surveys for everyone to use!

      OPAL Biodiversity Survey

      Survey

      OPAL Tree Key and Guide

      Tree Guide

      OPAL Invertebrates Guide

      Invertebrates 

      OPAL Amphibians Guide


      Amphibians

      You can also find the data everyone gathered as part of the projects here:

      OPAL Survey Data


      • Mobile phoneWe have a fantastic tool readily available in the palm of our had the mobile phone (personnel device) and it can help you when trying to identify many different native species.

        There are a number of UK native species apps available that you could add to your personnel devices (mobiles, IPad etc). Some of the top choices include for,

        General Nature & Citizen Science

        • iNaturalist: Take photos of any plant, animal, or insect to get AI identification and contribute to a huge citizen science project, especially with the #LookWild project in National Parks.
        • iRecord: A UK-focused app to log sightings, great for contributing data for research and conservation, often used with iNaturalist. 

        Plants

        Birds

        • Merlin Bird ID: Cornell Lab app with regional bird packs (UK pack developed with BTO) for ID by sight or sound.
        • BirdTrack / eBird: Apps for logging bird sightings, popular with birdwatchers. 

        Insects

        Mammals

        • Mammal Mapper: Record signs and sightings of UK mammals (hedgehogs, deer, etc.) via routes or one-off records. 

        Fungi

        • Shroomify: Features common fungi in the UK with images and data on frequency. 

        All of these Apps can help you identify species and contribute to citizen science projects. 

        Some Apps may vary depending upon your devices operating system. Please also check with the device owner / bill payer before downloading any Apps.


        But what do I choose?: this can depend on your interests and how much you want to commit of your time, as well as contribution you real science.

        • - For Beginners: Potentially tart with Seek or iNaturalist to learn general nature, or the Woodland Trust Tree ID for trees.
        • - For Birders: you may want to consider Merlin Bird ID and BirdTrack are excellent.
        • - For Data Contribution: and to be involved in citizen science projects check out iRecord, iNaturalist, or Mammal Mapper to help scientists. 

         


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        • Links at a glance

          All the resources and useful links included on this page in one simple place!

          If you require anything in a different format for accessibility, please just let us know.