As part of Manx Wildlife Week, Manx Wildlife Trust (MWT) will be holding a BioBlitz at Groudle Glen on Saturday 7th May from 10am to 6pm. The free public event will be used to launch MWT’s new online recording system, Nature Counts, which can be found at https://record.mwt.im. Officers and volunteers from MWT will be on hand to help people identify marine, woodland and freshwater species at the site.
A BioBlitz is a race against time to create a snapshot of the variety of life found in a specific location.
Wildlife experts and the wider public work together, within a set amount of time, to find and identify in the area as many species of plants, animals and fungi as possible. The event is an informal and fun way for young people and other members of the public to learn alongside experts and share and develop their enthusiasm for nature. Lots of techniques will be used on the day including sweep netting and stream dipping. Participants will be able to use identification guides and microscopes to help study the species found. MWT’s Biosphere Artist in Residence, Clare Payne, will also be at the BioBlitz creating collective wild art with help from the public and there will be an opportunity to produce water colour illustrations of the recorded species to take home.
MWT receive lots of biological records from members of the public via phone calls and email, but it is difficult to collate and share this information effectively. Nature Counts allows anyone to easily record wildlife sightings online using photographs and an easy-to-use mapping tool. Records can be verified and, as part of the Manx Biological Recording Partnership, shared with the National Biodiversity Network Isle of Man making the data freely accessible.
Biological records are an important part of helping nature’s recovery. The data helps conservationists make evidence-based decisions.
Leigh Morris, CEO of MWT said: ‘We know that nature needs our help. Knowing what species are found in which locations is essential information for helping MWT to decide where we need to focus our efforts to help return nature to recovery.’
‘Bird sightings are well recorded through Manx Birdlife, cetaceans through Manx Whale and Dolphin Watch and other biological data is being recorded by other groups like the Manx Bat Group and Manx Fungi Group for example. That still leaves a huge range of invertebrates, plants and animals that aren’t being recorded and we hope Nature Counts will help people to plug that gap. Our aim is that all the data ends up in the one database - the Manx NBN Atlas.’
MWT are encouraging members of the public to record all sighting of plants, invertebrates and mammals etc at https://record.mwt.im. MWT are also running their adult education courses again this year. The Wildlife Observer course, starting on the 14th May, is an excellent opportunity to improve identification skills and will cover data recording in more detail. Find out more at www.mwt.im/events
