Irish people are being urged to get involved with nature and become a citizen scientist.
The National Biodiversity Data Centre says anyone can reconnect with wildlife whatever their level of experience.
Ben Malone of Biodiversity Ireland told the Irish Mirror: “The current crisis is impacting on mental and physical health.
“However, depending on how each individual has been impacted by the crisis, one potential positive that might have come out of this ‘pause’ has been the opportunity to test out new hobbies, to explore new interests or to reconnect with old pastimes.
“One option is to engage with, or reconnect with, wildlife – either right outside the backdoor or anywhere within 5km of your home when you can get outside.
“Recording your sightings online, of anything from birds to bees and butterflies to plants, with the National Biodiversity Data Centre is a way of making your brief observations of nature permanent.
“The information everyone submits is scientifically valuable, contributing further to Ireland’s collective knowledge and understanding of what biodiversity occurs in Ireland, where it is located and how we might better manage it (for) its conservation.”
Recent research suggests spending at least [two hours] in nature a week significantly boosts health and wellbeing which is what some might refer to as a healthy ‘dose’ of Vitamin-N(ature).”
“There are a number of ways in which people can inject a bit of Vitamin-N into their lives while also contributing to citizen science, and if you haven’t got involved to date, there is probably no better time to start.”
These include:
1) Casual recording, any time, anywhere
No strings attached, no registrations, or sign-ups needed. Ireland’s Citizen Science Portal, managed by the NBDC, provides a facility for everyone to submit and store sightings of nature online.
The portal features an All-Ireland County League and an individual Recorder League, both ranking counties and people respectively based on the number of species recorded.
2) #SpeciesADay Challenge
A daily challenge is issued through the NBDC’s social media channels to encourage people to send photos of specific plants or animals each day on the various social media platforms.
3) Backyard Biodiversity
A recording scheme for beginners known as Backyard Biodiversity requires you to look for a set-list of 20 different easy-to-identify species that are common garden visitors.
All you have to do is record the various “target” wildlife that occur in your garden in your own time.
4) Flower Insect Timed Count (FIT Count)
This citizen science survey can only be done in warm and dry weather and runs from April until the end of September.
All you need to do is watch a 50x50cm patch of flowers for 10 minutes which could be in your garden, farm or local park, and record how many insects visit.
5) Monitoring Ireland’s wildlife
There are also schemes that demand more commitment.
These focus on monitoring particular insect groups such as bumblebees, butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies, right down to a species and sometimes even gender.
This tells us more about the health of their populations, but also paints a more detailed picture of the overall health of our environment.
- If any you are interested in any of these initiatives visit www.biodiversityireland.ie.
