At the end of April, Birmingham and the Black Country (Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall & Wolverhampton) will be taking part in the 2022 City Nature Challenge. The City Nature Challenge is an annual competition between cities all over the world to see how many wild species their citizens can spot over the space of four days. So far in 2022 over 350 cities have signed up to take part in the challenge, including 13 city areas from the UK! Last year ‘Birmingham and the Black Country’ took part in the challenge for the second time and despite the cold wet weather we managed to record a whopping 9,291 species observations. This result meant that in Birmingham and the Black Country we managed to record more wildlife than any other UK city and also had the 4th highest total in Europe! Photo of a wild plant or animal and the app’s inbuilt software will help you to identify it! This included records of over 910 different species – with highlights including Spotted Flycatcher, Muntjac Deer, Green-winged Orchid and Scarlet Tiger Moth. Worldwide over 1,200,000 wildlife observations were made in 2021, making it the biggest CNC ever! As well as being a fun activity that gets us to notice and learn more about our urban wildlife, the City Nature Challenge generates useful species information that helps organisations, such as EcoRecord and the Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country, to protect wildlife and to target their nature conservation activities. The species information that is gathered can also help to tell them about the impact of climate change on the area, including highlighting changes in the distribution and range of different species. How can I take part? Any records of wildlife spotted in Birmingham and the Black Country from Friday 29th April to Monday 2nd May will help towards our total and move them up the live global leader board. The easiest way to make your records count is to use the free iNaturalist app or website. Simply take a of a wild plant or animal and the app’s inbuilt software will help you to identify it!
The final results will be announced on 9th May.
They want to make this the biggest wildlife recording weekend ever in Birmingham and the Black Country.
