Recording wildlife on iNaturalist
Recording what biodiversity we have in the area is as important as making changes to improve it. Not only does recording give us a vital picture of what wildlife flourishes here, but it allows us to track progress and changes over time - which is critical for show-casing nationally how the work we are doing as a community is making a difference.
GiGL is the record keeping body for London, and they have conducted a search of all records they hold for Hampstead Garden Suburb. You can download this data here. As you can see many of the recordings locally are very old, and concentrated on open spaces such as Big Wood. There is a distinct lack of data on wildlife spotted in local gardens, and this is a similar problem nationally. But we know that gardens are THE MOST important habitat for wildlife - so we need to get recording it!
Britain’s Biggest Living Garden has been set up as a “project” on a fantastic and easy to use wildlife recording app called iNaturalist. Simply download the app, set up an account, and join the project. All you need to do is take a snap every time you see any wildlife - the app will use AI to try and identify the species, and expert ecologists can verify it. It works for plants, mammals, insects - just about everything. All verified recordings then become accessible to scientists internationally, so you will be a true Citizen Scientist.
For any with a competitive bent, you can track yourself on a local leaderboard, and we will try and roll out prizes for our best recorders!
