Spring Wildlife Survey

With spring in the air, the Weald to Waves team was delighted to send out the first wildlife survey to Gardens & Greenspace members during the Easter holidays. We have had a great response so far and thanks to all those who have completed and returned the survey to us.

The information you provide will help us to understand what currently shares our gardens and greenspaces here in Sussex and how far our members are on their journey to observe and monitor wildlife across our many and varied pledged spaces. It is so important for the success of the Weald to Waves project that we understand the different levels of knowledge and experience when it comes to wildlife identification and monitoring. This survey is a good starting point for all our members to get involved and a good baseline from which to plan future monitoring and training opportunities.

Looking at the initial responses, it is encouraging to see that many of our members already keep lists or participate in counts, particularly for birds and butterfly species. ID apps are a fun and useful way to keep records. They are being used by some members already and it is clear that there is scope in future to utilise them more in our activities.

While it is also positive news that around two-thirds of respondents so far have observed swifts flying over their local area in the last 12 months, awareness and observation of nesting sites is much less. Also, only 20% of respondents so far have seen hedgehogs in their gardens and greenspaces, and mostly only on an occasional, rather than regular, basis. This confirms that there remains important work to be done to improve habitats and connections for both these beloved and endangered species.

So, if you have received the survey and not yet completed it, please do – it’s fun and won’t take long! And, if you live in Sussex and have not yet joined the Weald to Waves project, then please sign up to Gardens & Greenspaces and join us in this fascinating journey to join the dots for nature.

As always, we love to hear about your efforts for nature recovery in your own spaces, so get in touch at gardens@wealdtowaves.co.uk

Amy Hurn, Gardens & Greenspaces Coordinator, Weald to Waves

Image credit: Andrej Chudý / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 DEED