Hull City Nature Challenge 2024
The countdown until Hull’s City Nature Challenge 2024 has begun! You’re in the right place to find out what the City Nature Challenge is, how you can get involved, iNaturalist training, recording locations, 2023 results and more…
The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is a global nature-recording event, taking place in cities and regions across the world, every year. Hull took part for the first time in 2023 and will be taking part again in 2024 from the 26th - 29th April. This four-day bioblitz event started in 2016 and has grown exponentially, from 2 cities participating in its first year to over 400 cities and 1.8 million observations in 2023. The challenge encourages people to discover the biodiversity on their doorstep, make useful biological records, and engage in some friendly competition with cities around the world.
Organised by NEYEDC with the help of a team of local partners, the aim for the Hull City Nature Challenge 2024 remains to promote the collection of biological data across the city and encourage people to connect with the nature in their local green spaces, back gardens, nature reserves, and more. You can find details of how to take part, and how to join the Hull City Nature Challenge 2024 project on iNaturalist, below.
Where are we recording in 2024?
Check out the map below to see locations in Hull where different community groups and individuals will be out recording across CNC weekend 26th-29th April 2024. If you spot any City Nature Challenge recorders why not say hello?
You might spot a few City Nature Challenge recorders at one of these locations over the weekend!…
See a gap in the map? Why not head out and record what you see there. If you will be out recording in some specific locations over the weekend, email us at seebra.young@neyedc.co.uk, and we can add you to the map!
We can’t wait to get to get going….
Follow us on twitter @TeamNEYEDC to keep updated throughout CNC.
How can I get involved in 2024?
The City Nature Challenge primarily uses the app iNaturalist to make records. You can use the app to record the plants and animals around you and get help from the iNaturalist community to identify your observations. iNaturalist can be downloaded onto mobile devices for free from the Apple Store or Google Play, or accessed via web browser. Any observations made within the city boundaries of Hull during the long weekend of 26th - 29th April 2024 will count towards the City Nature Challenge. You can also use iNaturalist to submit records throughout the year.
You can download iNaturalist for Android here or iPhone here, or use the browser version.
If you cannot use iNaturalist or are an established recorder, we can also accept traditional records in an excel sheet - please see our recording template below. For these records to be included they must be sent to NEYEDC by the 2nd May so they can be integrated into the CNC totals.
To find out more about biological recording visit our General Interest page.
iNaturalist training
We will be holding an online training session on the 18th April 2024 via Zoom, starting at 18:30, showing you how to use the iNaturalist app for the City Nature Challenge and beyond. Find out more and sign up here.
We will also be holding an in-person training session on the 21st April 2024 as part of the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Spring #TeamWilder Empowerment Day (Hull). Find out more about the event here: Spring #TeamWilder Empowerment Day (Hull) | Yorkshire Wildlife Trust (ywt.org.uk).
Drop in at The Deep on Saturday 27th April 2024, where we will be chatting to people about iNaturalist and CNC. If you have any troubles with iNaturalist we can do our best to help you out then! You can find us in the foyer area of The Deep between 10am -5pm.
2023 Results
Despite being a very urban city with tight boundaries, Hull managed to record a fantastic level of biodiversity in 2023. 4180 observations were made across the four days, of 854 different species. These numbers put us at a fantastic 7th place in the UK leaderboard, for both number of observations and species diversity!
Of the 854 different species recorded, the majority were plants (53.58%), but insects weren’t far behind making up 23.62%, leaving birds at 7.87%, mammals at 0.94% and amphibians at 0.35%. One of the notable species recorded was the Common Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), a butterfly which has been the target of conservation efforts in Hull in recent years (see Butterfly City), and whose larvae feeds on Buckthorn trees found across Hull. Another priority species recorded was the Common Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus pipistrellus), identified by a bat detector recording. In addition, some beautiful Diptera were recorded by Ian Andrews - take a look on the 2023 iNaturalist project page to see fantastic microscopic images, including a number of rare species such as non-native fruit fly, Tephritis matricariae.
Our 65 recorders - those making the observations - were made up of a range of individuals. As well as relying on diligent local groups (such as Hull City Naturalists, Hull University and more), the City Nature Challenge partnership hoped to engage the public in biological recording through outreach events at Alderman Kneeshaw, Pickering Park, and Pearson Park. Across the three parks, via wildlife walks and activities, a wide range of new recorders were recruited, young and old. We found that using the iNaturalist app was a fantastic way to engage new audiences, and the friendly competition of CNC was a great catalyst for collaboration. Many recorders known to NEYEDC were out recording across the CNC weekend, offering their expertise and local knowledge.
After the main recording event, which took place over a long weekend, the City Nature Challenges gives participating cities a number of days to verify records on iNaturalist. Only records that are verified (have their identification confirmed using a photo or audio recording alongside the observation) can be deemed Research Grade, meaning that the data can be utilised for purposes such as scientific research but also in local decision-making. As a LERC, this is particularly important! 345 people acted as verifiers for the 2023 project, providing identifications and advice which enabled 57.65% of records from the event to reach Research Grade. In 2024, we’d love for this to be even higher!
Since the 2023 City Nature Challenge, records from the event have been made available for local decision-making and research purposes, including PhD projects at the University of Hull. These records help us better our understanding of the potential biodiversity in the city and provide up-to-date records for some areas where recording has historically been lacking.
Recording area
The boundary chosen by the Hull City Nature Challenge team reflects Hull’s official city boundary! We wanted the city nature challenge to be really about urban recording and collecting species records in the city!