12,059 observations were made during the challenge’s four days (Friday 25 April to Monday 28 April). This was the third time Staffordshire has taken part in the annual competition, where people all over the world compete to see how many wild species can be seen.
167 people took part in Staffordshire, recording 1,430 different species. Top nature finds include two rare beetles. A darkling beetle, which has never been recorded in the county before, and a Welsh oak longhorn beetle, which has only been recorded in Staffordshire six times previously. This indicates a potential new locality for these beetles nationally. Other exciting observations included grass snakes, stone loach, and logjammer hoverfly.
The county placed sixth out of the 26 UK places that took part, and 69th out of the 669 places worldwide that took part – surpassing the number of observations made in other notable global areas, such as Rome, Italy and Paris, France.
Rory Middleton, Ecological Data Manager for SER, said: “Thank you to everyone who took part in this friendly nature counting competition. Surpassing 10,000 observations in four days is such a big achievement and helps us monitor local wildlife in the county. We hope to see even more people take part in 2026.”
“Even though the challenge is over, we always need nature records to help us better understand where wildlife is thriving, and where numbers are lacking. This data is essential in our work to protect nature.
“We’d encourage people to continue counting – simply download the free iNaturalist app to your phone or tablet, or use the iNaturalist website to record your sightings. Or you can report sightings directly to SER on our website: www.staffs-ecology.org.uk.”
