Wildlife surveys

Many people want to "do something for the environment", or to "get out and about in the countryside".  The Community Heritage Initiative is looking for volunteers to become nature detectives across Leicestershire and Rutland, to help with wildlife and countryside surveys. Volunteers are needed, in every parish, to record natural history information.

It is important that people get involved locally, because natural heritage features are ultimately lost or safeguarded at local level. Various community survey projects have been developed to record vital information about target habitats.

Survey projects you can help with include countryside features, such as woodlands, hedgerows, grasslands and field ponds, as well as audits of parish special wildlife sites, and changes in land use and wildlife habitats. Surveys also exists for monitoring seasonal change (Season Watch) and species such as reptiles, butterflies and also mammals such as hares and rabbits.

The details you record will be fed into the local Biodiversity Action Plan - a detailed strategy to save some of the most threatened habitats and species of the two counties. Your information will provide a valuable update on the state of the natural environment.

Records are also submitted to the National Biodiversity Network, "a new way of sharing wildlife information by making it accessible to everyone through the Internet. This new network of biodiversity information will help people to make informed and wise decisions about out natural environment."  Records are submitted to the NBN from individuals, societies and local records centres nationally and locally.

The Community Heritage Initiative is working on a project to allow access to local records held by the NBN. This will make it easier to people to view records for their parish or local area in Leicestershire and Rutland .

You don't need to be an expert to help out. This website contains all the information and forms needed to help people think about their wildlife walks and get to know their local patch.