Ways to get involved in environmental data collection

A woman standing in golden light of dawn or dusk appears to have just lowered binoculars from her face as she stares into the distance. Behind her is a row of trees and shore line of a lake.

Terry Whittaker 2020 VISION

Ways to get involved in environmental data collection

Gathering data to protect wildlife

Citizen science initiatives gather data collected by individual volunteers to build up a bigger picture of the habitats and species within our landscapes. These small actions transform into big results when many people get involved.

Initiatives are open to everyone, and the variety out there means no matter your knowledge level, or how much time you have to contribute, there is a way you can get involved. Data collecting is a great excuses to get outside and give a walk a greater purpose.

Report a sighting

Think you've spotted something interesting in Staffordshire? Report the sighting with us! Sending your sightings helps us to learn of population changes and trends in Staffordshire's wildlife.

report a sighting

Ways to get involved

Reporting wildlife sightings is one way to get involved through the iRecord or iNaturalist apps. It is flexible to your time and can be done watching out of your window or when you are out walking.

Join a local scheme, see what projects are running in your area and how you can get involved.

Join a national citizen science scheme, there are many schemes run by a variety of organisations where the data is analysed as part of the scheme. Schemes can be for a couple of days or run all year. They can focus on a particular species or a whole group of species or habitats, so there should be something for you no matter your interest.

Local schemes

Staffordshire City Nature Challenge

Help us to document the wildlife of Staffordshire in a global challenge to see which city is the wildest!

A woman crouches in a meadow and inspects something in her hand. There are trees behind her. She wears beige casual trousers and a dark top, plus a woollen hat.

Nature in your Neighbourhood

An innovative National Lottery Community Fund community led nature and climate project in the Staffordshire Moorlands.

Purple loosestrife in a field lines by trees

Stafford Brooks

Stafford Brooks is a partnership project with Staffordshire Wildlife Trust, National Highways, Stafford Borough Council, and The…

Staffordshire Target Areas

Data is useful across the whole of Staffordshire, yet there are some areas where we have been working and would particularly value data. They are:

Stafford Brooks is a partnership project. Working together, this partnership will create havens for wildlife to flourish.

A set of maps with areas outlined in orange to denote project boundaries.

Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is the lead partner of the Transforming the Trent Valley Partnership.

A map of Staffordshire with pin points labelling reserves.

Our nature reserves.

National Citizen Science Campaigns

Birds

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

Amphibians and reptiles

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.

Insects

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.

Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

Wildlife Interest Groups

Staffordshire has a variety of wildlife interest groups for different species and families from barn owls to bats. These groups can provide information, answer questions, offer events/talks but also need help with projects/surveys.

Get involved