Our scientists can’t have their eyes over the entire country, so we rely on people like you to record nature around them to help us understand how the natural world is changing. UKCEH has a long history of empowering ordinary citizens to go out and record animals, plants and fungi and contribute to our research, known as ‘citizen science.’
From monitoring invasive species to toxic algal blooms, tracking air pollution or recording the bees and butterflies that pollinate our crops, there are lots of different ways to get involved. It can be as simple as downloading one of our apps and taking a picture on your smartphone or spending 10 minutes amongst the flowers to record pollinators.
Projects you can get involved in
- Bloomin' Algae - This app helps speed up public health warnings about harmful algal blooms and can help teach you how to recognise the risks to you, children and animals.
- Yellow-legged (Asian) Hornet Watch app - Identify, record and help with the early detection of the non-native Asian Hornet in the UK.
- National Honey Monitoring Scheme - Working with UK beekeepers, this scheme uses honeybees to monitor long-term changes in the health of our countryside.
- National Plant Monitoring Scheme - An annual stock take of the UK's wild plants and their habitats.
- UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme - Recording the abundance of bees, hoverflies and other flower-visiting insects at a national scale.
- UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme - Butterfly transects to monitor these beautiful indicator species.
- DECIDE - recording nature where it matters - Filling in gaps in recording at national and at local scales.
