Roadkill, Grid References and BioBlitz

                          Artwork by Elizabeth Murray

 

 

A collection of old British Trust For Ornithology Bird Study books was kindly donated to my local bird club recently (pictured). 'Interspecific Aggression Between Chats', Moulting Shelducks On The Humber' and my favourite, 'Promiscuity In The Shag As Shown By Time-Lapse Photography' are scientific studies of bird population and behaviour. But you don't have to be a scientist to contribute important data about birds, botany, butterflies, bugs and other beasts.

Organisations such as the BTO, Mammal Society and Plantlife UK all invite public participation. If you can provide a grid reference, a specimen dead or alive will be of interest to someone. Roadkill may be gory, but it's a reliable indicator of animal distribution. Whatever your interest, there's a national or local organisation keen for your input.

In Cambridgeshire we have a records centre that is appealing for the whole gamut of fauna and flora data. http://www.cperc.org.uk/about-us/recording-wildlife-near-you.php.

Their page at http://www.cperc.org.uk/submit-records/submit-single.php is my favourite way to submit records whenever I hear a kingfisher's whistle or check under a bridge for otter tracks and traces.

And Bio-Blitz is a fun festival where you'll be in good company finding all sorts of strange creatures crawling out from under stones.