The environmental protection group Natagora has launched its annual garden butterfly census with a plea to the public to observe butterflies in their gardens and record their sightings on the Natagora website.
The association stresses that this exercise welcomes everyone, regardless of age, and whether their garden is modest or expansive. The only requirements are to allocate a few hours in July, and use the observation and logging guide available on the organisation's website.
“We gather a vast amount of data each year, courtesy of our participants,'' says Vincent Louwette, a leader at Natagora’s Nature Network. "This information allows us to continually assess the status of our most common species, usually not closely traced by specialist naturalists.”
By 2025, this yearly census will progress to a new format, covering all insects. The exercise will seek primarily to increase public knowledge of the Observations.be web portal – an interface for sharing and managing millions of natural observation data.
Participants will be encouraged to utilise the ObsIdentify app, which features a photo-identification tool for insects.
Natagora is enthusiastic about the new platforms, which will offer citizens exciting new ways to contribute to biodiversity protection.
