End of the Road…

Well all of a sudden it’s all over! The last few weeks have been quite a blur as the last BioBlitzes of the year were held at Canterbury, Manchester and Kingston Universities and then many of us came together to discuss the year’s events and the future at the BioBlitz conference.

Canterbury’s BioBlitz now seems quite a distant memory after the immensely hectic last month! What may stick in my mind unfortunately, is that it was very cold! The forecast was pretty grim and although the rain held off for most of the day, the weather did decide to give us one good drenching. This did not deter many hardy volunteers coming out to investigate a great riverbank site and there was some great technical trickery going on including a web microscope broadcasting live to the world from the event. In a masterstroke of planning following the BioBlitz there was an ample supply of pizza and hot drinks available in the student’s union. Huge thanks to Judy, Hannah and all their volunteers for making this event happen.

A week later and I was off to the north for Manchester University’s Mini BioBlitz. Having avoided temptation (at least on the way to the event) walking down the curry mile it was great to see there were volunteers from a wide variety of courses ready to get BioBlitzing brought together by the Manchester Leadership Programme for student volunteers and despite some slight arachnophobia issues to begin with everyone was very soon enthusiastically sweep-netting to catch a surprisingly wide variety of bugs and beasts. We followed this with walks around the huge pond in the park, looking at the plants and birds which inhabit the area (including a thriving population of parakeets!). Another big thank you to Kirsty and all the experts from Manchester Museum who made this BioBlitz a great success!

That was my final BioBlitz of the year and there was only Kingston University’s Mini BioBlitz to go two days after this and that was the final event until 2011. However, this was far from the end of the road for us! On the 3^rd of November the first BioBlitz Conference took place in Bristol alongside the BNHC’s annual Communicate conference to discuss the year’s events and start planning for next year. But before that we got to listen to David Attenborough speak which was fantastic! The conference was I believe a great success, mainly due to every delegate’s willingness to get stuck in and state their opinion. The successes and challenges of this year’s BioBlitzes were discussed and improvements for next year suggested. Following on from this we intend to work out how best we can continue to support BioBlitz organisers in 2011 and I’ve got to say one final round of thankyou’s to Sophie who was fantastic in facilitating the conference, Harriet who did the organising and for all the rest of her work supporting BioBlitz throughout the year, Julia our ‘sparkplug’ who was hugely helpful in making the conference happen, all those whose arms we twisted into facilitating table discussions and all our other delegates for their tremendous input! And finally, since I suppose this is the end, an absolutely ginormous thankyou to everyone and anyone who organised, volunteered or took part in BioBlitz in 2010, without you all it wouldn’t have been such a great success. We have already heard about several events in their early planning stages for next year and it sounds like 2011 could be another huge year for BioBlitz in the UK!

BNHC’s first ever school BioBlitz takes place..!

May Park primary school in Eastville happily hosted the Bristol Natural History Consortium’s first ever school’s BioBlitz in their grounds on Friday the 5th of November 2010.

Rain didn’t stop play as local naturalist Terry Smith (founder of the Nailsea Environment and Wildlife Trust) and Stephanie Hoddinott (Bristol Natural History Consortium staff) led an afternoon session on trees. They were also lucky enough to have two volunteers from Airbus to assist with the session. The children enjoyed running around the grounds on a tree identification mission and were delighted when they got to plant their very own Oak trees to take home with them.

Year 6 teacher, Simon Thorington was really enthusiastic about the afternoon’s events, ”We had a great time – lots of learning! The pupils love the opportunity to interact with new faces. Having experts to come and work with them really does help to raise the profile of science in the classroom. There were no complaints about the wind and the rain because they were so involved in the activity. We are looking forward to following it up with data collection focusing on numbers of different species and creating a tree safari for younger pupils to use. Thank you BNHC and Airbus!”

If you would like to register your interest in holding a school’s BioBlitz or would like a free copy of the teacher’s resource then please email schools@bioblitzuk.org.uk

Year 6 pupils from May Park with Airbus volunteers

Reptilian Fever

“This Wednesday brought us not one, but two BioBlitzes! So while Bristol was treated to UWE’s BioBlitz I went over to Royal Holloway University just on the edge of London to see what could be found there. Yet again the campus was pretty stunning and they had some great woodland and a pond which was full of life, along with lots of schoolchildren eager to find it. Before the event had even started and I was stumbling about the campus trying to find my bearings I spotted something mammalian splashing away from me in a stream and during the BioBlitz itself we made some great finds, including a pair of smooth newts and a frog called Bob. Everyone had a great time and impressively not a single person fell in the pond! Thanks to Phil, Jerome and all their volunteers for putting on another great event! Just a few more BioBlitzes to go in 2010 now, and the next one is tomorrow in Canterbury, so hopefully see you there!”

Will Hinchliffe, National BioBlitz Officer

Canterbury Christ Church BioBlitz

We are running a Bioblitz on Saturday 23rd October 2010 to increase student and public perception of biodiversity. Canterbury Christ Church University is committed to enhancing students’ employability, educational sustainability and promoting volunteering. The Bioblitz will take place at Hambrook Marshes, Canterbury, Kent (see pdf map) from 12pm-3pm, with a debrief and refreshments afterwards in the Terrace Cafe (3rd floor, Augustine House).

You can follow what’s happening throughout the event by checking out their blog http://cccuvolunteering.wordpress.com/

Students can register their initial interest by adding “ChristChurch Volunteering” as a friend on Facebook and responding to an invitation to the event.  If you have expert or generalist knowledge of biodiversity or ecology and would like to come along, please email volunteer@canterbury.ac.uk

Royal Holloway BioBlitz

The Royal Holloway Mini-BioBlitz will be taking place from 1pm – 4pm on 20 October 2010 on campus at the pond and woodland area. To view go to http://www.rhul.ac.uk/aboutus/ourcampus/home.aspx and click on the camera at the bottom which says woodland walks to explore the area through a virtual tour.

We have one school confirmed as attending with their year 6 group of 77 children and staff members on top.

Our Bio Science Department have kindly lent us equipment such as nets, jars, trays and baskets for collecting species to identify, and also with large magnifiers, and microscopes to assist with this task. There will be ID cards to match against, with some specialist help form staff and students in this field.

Royal Holloway students wishing to volunteer should email volunteering@rhul.ac.uk and put ‘BioBlitz’ in the email title. All the equipment needed will be provided and they will get a t-shirt, drink and snack for helping out. They will need to meet at Jane Holloway Hall for 1pm.

 

UWE BioBlitz

A BioBlitz is a fantastic way for students to study the range of biodiversity and ecosystems on campus and opportunity to gain experience and enthusiasm from experts. The all day event will be held on 20 October in the Wallscourt Farm area of campus and coincides with both UWE Sustainability week and 2010 being the International Year of Biodiversity. Scheduled events with experts include activities such as invertebrate, fungal, botanical, moth and bat surveys.

Students will be able to gain knowledge from both UWE Academic staff and outside experts, gaining invaluable hands on experience, practical i.d.ing skills and sharing knowledge with other participants. Species will be identified using i.d. keys and microscopes to the best level possible and verified in further detail by naturalists with expertise and then recorded on local and national monitoring schemes which will then be passed to BRERC (Bristol Regional Environmental Centre) for species mapping purposes.

Student volunteers are needed for the event and the UWE CVP Team will be advertising for recruitment to assist with roles such as Guides, stewards, media coverage and updating the UWE BioBlitz blog.

 

UEA Mini-BioBlitz

“So I’ve been off on my travels again! The University of East Anglia’s Mini BioBlitz yesterday was one with a bit of a difference. It formed a part of their larger Campus Conservation Project and concentrated on getting volunteers excited and hyped and other kinds of enthusiastic about the work that they’re going to be doing to improve their very beautiful campus.  I do feel my university experience had a definite lack of lakes, something which UEA students have no worries about! They have grand plans for increasing the biodiversity of their campus and recording it, and following on from yesterday will have weekly work parties venturing out completing tasks which bring back memories for me of volunteering with theBritish Trust of Conservation Volunteers. A lot of which will involve, as all good conservation tasks do, chopping down lots of things.  It’s the best way to aid nature I assure you!

UEA Broad Lake

Many thanks to Elaine and her team for another great day, and a lift back into Norwich, from where I made my slow way back Bristol, via a quick hotdog stop (being in the land of mustard obviously!) and then encountering the many dangers of the railway system, fires on the track, overhead cable thieves, all the usuals!

Next up are Mini BioBlitzes a little closer to home, so next Wednesday (20th October), get yourself over to UWE or Royal Holloway university near London for more BioBlitz related fun!”

Will Hinchliffe, National BioBlitz Officer

Up and Running

“So we’re off! The University of Exeter got the Mini-BioBlitzes off to a fantastic debut with Nick Baker on the megaphone and loads of eager students ready to scour the campus for life of all kinds. I joined a fungi walk as I’ve recently been trying to learn to gather more wild food and was on the lookout for edible mushrooms. The huge variety of species present on Exeter’s beautiful campus have mainly made me realise my own ineptitude and that much learning is still required before I get out there and poison myself… Next up for me was sweep-netting on Exeter’s verdant meadows and in addition to hiding, running and falling over a lot of our young sweep-netters, managed to catch a wide variety of butterflies, spiders and many-legged beasts. We then realised that all of a sudden the three hours were up and everyone gathered back at base camp to share their discoveries and being in Devon, eat cream teas.

A massive thanks to Harriet, Nick, Dale and all their team of volunteers for getting the Mini-BioBlitzes off to such a great start and we don’t have to wait long for our next BioBlitz action! Tomorrow I’m off to Norwich for the University of East Anglia’s Mini-BioBlitz, which will launch their larger Campus Conservation Project.  This will provide opportunities for many to get involved with preserving the biodiversity of their university grounds for years to come, so I’ll see you there!”

Will Hinchliffe, National BioBlitz Officer

Bats found at the University of Exeter BioBlitz

 

University of East Anglia BioBlitz

UEA Campus Conservation Project is very pleased to be part of and supported by BioBlitz 2010.  The project will start in early October 2010 and is based on the campus, lake (Broad) and surrounding river meadows of the University of East Anglia on the edge of the city of Norwich.  Participants will be drawn from the student community.

The launch event in October will include a tour of the University of East Anglia Broad and the River Yare meadows to see the biodiversity of the site and the conservation work to be undertaken.  Volunteers will be able to sign up for conservation work parties and surveying.

Over the following months students will help with wildlife surveys of the whole area (observation, identification and recording of flora and fauna). Weekly conservation work parties will be held on Wednesday afternoons and there will be weekend litter picking days with the help of local community groups.  A major feature of the project will be a new Wildlife Trail around the UEA Broad (lake) and river meadows.  There is a rich diversity of wildlife which needs to be recorded and protected.  Students will undertake the preparation and production of a waterproof and reusable guide to the Wildlife Trail with information about the biodiversity and local history of the site along with Information Boards at strategic points.  Guided tours around the trail will be provided by students on request for local school parties and the local community.

The UEA student Wildlife and Conservation Society will join with UEA Volunteers to encourage participation across the University community.

The weekly work parties will be overseen by conservation managers from the University Estates division.  The following conservation work is planned for the Autumn/Winter season

• Coppicing shrubs and trees around the Broad
• Coppicing wild goat willow encroaching on the fen
• Cutting back and coppicing woodland by butterfly meadow
• Removing detritus and windblown litter in woodland and around Broad
• Litter picking in environmentally sensitive areas
• Cutting back reed around river and Broad

The Wildlife Survey will be overseen be Dr Ian Barr (lecturer in Ecology) and students will undertake the following tasks to assist with a major survey of the biodiversity of the site:

• Species specific surveys including mammals, certain common birds, bird roosts, plants, insects, fish etc.
• Human -wildlife interactions
• Campus usage by the public/students
• Awareness of conservation issues on the campus
• Computer based records organisation- a way for biodiversity records to be submitted and organised to record what people see

The project will be an enjoyable and informative experience for students to be involved with, in the care and conservation of the campus and surrounding area.  We hope the project will also bring the benefit of forming good relations between UEA students and local community who use the campus and surrounding lands for walking, fishing, bird watching and picnics.  Volunteers will develop new skills in communication, conservation and ecology, wildlife surveying and recording.  The project is also  a healthy, outdoor and sociable activity which we hope will be fun for all involved.  The funding from BioBlitz will help the project set up a Wildlife Trail and equip volunteers to undertake the conservation and wildlife surveys.

UEA Broad Lake

 

Feed us some feedback!

Now that summer is officially over (sad!) we’d love to hear your feedback, especially if you were a student volunteering at a BioBlitz event.  Post your comments here with what you thought of the event you were helping at: did you make an exciting find? What did you enjoy? What kind of experience did you gain and was there anything that maybe you didn’t like?

We’ll take out all the useful bits from your comments to make sure that the volunteering opportunities for next year are even more amazing!