Training: Introduction to City Nature Challenge

City Nature Challenge is a yearly BioBlitz involving cities across the world. It is a friendly competition to see which city can a) record the highest number of species, b) involve the highest number of participants and c) gain the highest number of observations. It usually takes place over a Friday-Monday in April.

Alice Sheppard, UCL’s community manager, gave a 30 minute webinar on City Nature Challenge as part of HEIDI’s commitment to upskilling HEI staff and students and community members. Alice has helped out with City Nature Challenge in London in 2018 and 2019, and hopes to get it started in Stockholm too.

Anyone can take part in City Nature Challenge either as an individual, in which case you would simply record any wildlife you see during the Friday-Monday period (usually using iNaturalist, though some cities choose other recording methods), or by running an event, which anyone can do – you don’t have to be a researcher. However, if your city does not yet take part, you’ll need to sign up by early autumn the previous year.

Alice talked the webinar participants through how City Nature Challenge got started and how it works, and then some examples of City Nature Challenge events – for example, biology students running a BioBlitz in a public square with a flipchart to encourage passersby to take part, or a park organisation running a pond dipping or birdwatching event which might be pre-booked in advance. She showed the audience an overview of iNaturalist and told some behind-the-scenes stories of monthly meetings to prepare for large-scale events. However, an event could be as simple as a family day out, and she encouraged audience members to start as large or small as they chose.

During the pandemic, the event had to be adapted for individuals and families to take part alone, and the competitive element was removed. Alice talked us through some safety considerations (for the pandemic and in general!), and then suggested some organisations to work with – schools, Duke of Edinburgh award schemes, research departments, gardening groups, and “Friends Of” parks and other voluntary groups, especially wildlife and conservation organisations. Participants were encouraged to talk to each other in the Zoom chat, ask questions and share their ideas and experiences.

Thank you for coming along!

This event was then followed by a similar webinar on Event Planning, which you can read about here.