EMERSONS Green Town Council’s Community Nature Reserve team is encouraging people to share wildlife sightings in the area using an app.
The project has been helping residents of Emersons Green and Lyde Green make their gardens and green spaces friendly for wild plants, pollinating insects, butterflies, birds and other animals since 2023.
Now the team is asking people to share sightings in the town council’s area using the online platform iNaturalist.
The app and website enables anyone with a smartphone or camera to upload pictures, and uses a combination of AI tools and an online community of nature enthusiasts to identify living things they have photographed, and find out more about them.
The pictures are added to a worldwide online database aiding scientific research on biodiversity.
People can browse these records to find out more about nature in the area by visiting the uk.inaturalist.org website and searching for Emersons Green Community Nature Reserve: there are already more than 1,000 records, covering 450-plus species.
Deputy mayor Bobbie Sunderland said: “We know that this is only a small sample of the wildlife, plants and animal life in the area, though, and we would love to use this project to build a bigger picture of all the nature that is thriving in our gardens, parks and green spaces.
“If you are a nature enthusiast, a budding wildlife photographer or you simply want to find out more about the plants and creatures you come across, we would love for you to get involved and try out the app.”
More information is also available on the Community Nature Reserve page on the Emersons Green Town Council website.