Do you want to help record wildlife across Somerset? How can you get involved in mapping nature just by using your smart phone?

Somerset Wildlife Trust has an ambition target of 1 in 4 people actively engaging with nature by 2030. We believe that a crucial part of tackling the climate and ecological emergency is for people to come together to both raise awareness and to take action for nature. One of the simplest ways of playing your part is to get out in your local environment, or even in your own garden, to record what species we already have on our doorstep.

We now have programmes running across Somerset to train people in the skills they need to survey their local green and blue spaces. Working with the Somerset Environmental Records Centre we offer training on how to use the iNaturalist App – a web-based platform which uses any mobile device to take and upload photos of wildlife. It has algorithms which makes suggestions on species identification which can then be verified by experts. You can even set up ‘project areas’ within the website for your local community space so that you can see all the species that have been recorded there.

We also have other projects running to survey specific habitats. For instance, volunteers regularly survey our beaches using another app as part of the national Shoresearch project. This allows us to get a more detailed picture of the diversity of our intertidal habitats.

How ever you begin your journey as a wildlife recorder either using iNaturalist when you are out enjoying the countryside or as part a ‘wilder community’ groups, you can be rest assured that any information you collect will help monitor the State of Nature in Somerset. You may even get so hooked that eventually you progress to joining one of affiliated specialist groups – be it focussing on bats or botany or bugs.

A great way to get started is to take part in our annual The Big Count, where we ask everyone to keep their eyes peeled for a handful of species over an extended period of time, this year between 16th and 25th June. 

We look forward to supporting more of you to become wildlife watchers and be part of a growing number of Somerset Citizen Scientists!