NG15 July/August 2020

nottingham holds its own in
city nature challenge
by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust
national trust 2020/21
winter meetings
by National Trust Nottingham Centre
Back in April, nature enthusiasts from across
Nottingham took part in the City Nature Challenge,
an annual event documenting nature and helping
us to better understand urban biodiversity.
Nature spotters took to their back gardens,
allotments, ponds and sheds to use the mobile app
iNaturalist to record the urban wildlife that is usually
overlooked.
Over 2700 observations were made by over 100
observers in Nottingham city, including 673 different
species. Out of the ten areas across the UK that took
part, Nottingham was the smallest city, but held its
own, recording the most observations, species and
observers per square kilometre.
The most common recordings were of blackbirds,
cow parsley and herb robert, regularly spotted at
this time of year, but there were also some more
unusually named species, such as a zebra jumping
spider and farinose cartilage lichen. There was also
one photograph of a European Orchard Bee, a solitary
bee which was first recorded in the south east of
Britain in 2017, and which could be the first time one
has been spotted in Nottingham.
The City Nature Challenge originally began as a
competition between San Francisco and Los Angeles
in 2016, and has now grown into an international
competition with over 200 cities taking part. Even
with the global pandemic preventing events taking place,
over 41,000 people took part worldwide, recording over
800,000 observations and 32,000 species.
September seems a long
way off as we come to terms
with social distancing and
restrictions on our daily lives.
Something to look forward to
when we can meet again is our
Winter Programme of talks.
The programme runs twice a
month from September to April. Each talk lasts for
an hour with a variety of subjects and speakers. The
year starts with “British Garden Birds”; later in the
year, “Gardens Great and Small” and “Japan’s Wildlife”.
History buffs may enjoy “Cuba and Panama”;
“Independence, Revolution and Pirates”, or “Inn Signs
and Local History”.
If restrictions are relaxed, we hope to run some
minibus walks for small groups from August onwards.
Here are the first few provisional dates:
Wednesday 5 August: Harringworth to Fineshade
(Rockingham Forest)
Thursday 20 August: Brassington to Tissington
(Peak District)
Thursday 17 September: Deep Hayes to Froghall
(Churnet Valley)
You will need to be a member of the National Trust to
join the Nottingham Centre and you will need to be
a member of both to attend our other activities. Our
programmes and newsletters keep you informed of
what is happening and when.
It costs £6 per person per annum to join and £10 for 2
people living at the same address. The talks cost £3
per person and £4 for guests.
Our Web site is: www.ntnottingham.uk
Our Membership Secretary is:
Barbara McDonald, Tel: 0115 9757800
Email: bmcdonald351@btinternet.com
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