Ways to get involved in environmental data collection

RSPB - . Big Garden Birdwatch

Big Garden Birdwatch is the UK's biggest citizen science wildlife survey. By taking part, you can help us understand how our garden birds are doing right now.

British Trust for Ornithology (BTO)- Take part in a project | BTO - British Trust for Ornithology

There’s something for everyone: from patch birders, garden enthusiasts and Cuckoo sponsors to expert ringers and ecologists

Froglife – Dragon Finder App,

Could you become a Dragon Finder? A massive 41% of the World’s amphibians and 21% of Europe’s reptiles are at risk of extinction. You can help amphibians and reptiles in the UK by using this app to submit your sightings.

Freshwater Habitats Trust- PondNet Spawn Survey - Freshwater Habitats Trust ,

You can log your Common Toad and Common Frog spawn sightings using the form below to help us to better understand when are where frogs and toads are breeding across the UK.

Bug LIFE- Bugs Matter - Buglife,

The Bugs Matter citizen science survey is an important initiative measuring insect splats on vehicle number plates as a marker of insect abundance. In previous survey years, with the valuable contributions of citizen scientists across the UK, we have made significant strides in understanding the challenges facing our insect populations.

Butterfly Conservation - https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/

Butterfly Conservation have declared a butterfly emergency, and we need your help more than ever before. By taking part in Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count - a UK wide survey, you can help assess the health of our environment simply by counting butterflies.

Bumblebee Conservation Trust - Bumblebee surveying and monitoring - Bumblebee Conservation Trust,

Bumblebees are in crisis. If we can understand the reasons why they are declining, we can work towards stopping and reversing this. Some of the key questions we need to answer to help us understand are: Where are the remaining bumblebees? How many are there? And what are they doing?

People’s Trust for Endangered Species - Take part in the Great Stag Hunt - Stag Beetles,

The magnificent stag beetle needs your help.

You can get involved with stag beetle conservation by telling us when you see one, carrying out a survey or creating habitat for them.

Riverfly Partnership - Get Involved — The Riverfly Partnership

The Riverfly Partnership supports projects that are designed to assess the health of the UK’s rivers. Volunteers are trained to become citizen scientists and join a team to monitor their local river. They detect and report serious pollution incidents and create long-term data sets.

The River Trust - https://theriverstrust.org/take-action/the-big-river-watch

Twice a year they run Big River Watch weeks, inviting you to participate in a simple citizen science activity that helps build a picture of river health across the UK and Ireland.

People’s Trust for Endangered Species- https://hedgerowsurvey.ptes.org/the-great-british-hedgerow-survey

This survey is comparatively simple to do, but collects enough vital information to give a good assessment of hedgerow health, as well as robust advice for future management.

Earth watch -  https://earthwatch.org.uk/greatukwaterblitz/

The Great UK WaterBlitz is a biannual campaign calling on everyone to go out and test the quality of their local freshwater including rivers, streams and lakes. This helps to build a national picture of water quality across the UK.

Woodland Trust - https://naturescalendar.woodlandtrust.org.uk/add-a-record/

Help us track the effects of weather and climate change on wildlife near you. What effect has recent weather had on wildlife? Does climate change affect timings in nature? Join Nature’s Calendar and help scientists discover answers to these questions.

Freshwater habitats - https://castco.org/

Our rivers need our collective action, backed by evidence. CaSTCo (Catchment Systems Thinking Cooperative) is building a shared understanding of monitoring data so that citizen scientists can work alongside professionals to restore rivers together.

Mammal Web - www.mammalweb.org

They collate data from motion sensing "camera traps", set up to photograph and monitor wild mammals. Anyone is welcome to act as a "Spotter", helping to identify animals in the images taken by camera traps, or even to volunteer as a "Trapper", by setting up their own camera trap and uploading the pictures from it!

BHPS and People’s Trust for Endangered Species - https://bighedgehogmap.org/

Hedgehog Street is as much about people as it is about hedgehogs. Hedgehog Champions are the people that make it work – you don’t need any special skills to be one, just a bit of initiative and a love for spiny creatures!

Bat Conservation Trust - www.bats.org.uk/our-work/national-bat-monitoring-programme/surveys

The National Bat Monitoring Programme surveys are carefully designed so that anybody can take part in monitoring these fascinating but easily overlooked mammals. Visit the above website to find out which of their surveys are right for you and how to take part.

Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland - https://bsbi.org/get-involved

Their New Year Plant Hunt is a great way to get started! There are group hunts you can join and helpful spotter sheets you can download  - the plants shown are fairly common and most bloom throughout the year, so why not see which of them you can find in your area?

National Plant Monitoring Scheme - www.npms.org.uk

The National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) aims to survey plant species across different habitats in the UK. The data collected from the survey allows NPMS to look at the abundance and diversity of plants and help them understand the health of different habitats.