Citizen Science: March Update
26th April, 2023
More than 150 new habitat structures are now being installed in gardens throughout the South West as part of our Turning Gardeners into Conservationists project!
March was the big wildlife-friendly gardening phase of our citizen science project, with participating gardeners learning about and getting ready to install their new structures. This includes an incredible 102 nest boxes (to accommodate birds, bats and possums), 21 bird baths, 20 frog hotels, seven ponds, and up to 30 reptile shelters.
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- Bird Bath – Heather
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- Frog Hotel – Julie
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- Reptile Shelter – Christine
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- Bird Bath – Julie
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- Frog Hotel – Isabelle
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- Bird Bath – Christine
Some of the new habitat structures installed by citizen scientists as part of this project – images by Heather, Julie, Christine and Isabelle.
It’s an exciting phase of the project and we’ve enjoyed seeing new the nest boxes, bird baths and frog hotels going in, and hearing about everyone’s hopes for the wildlife that will make use of them. Over the last eight months, more than 8800 visits to existing wildlife-friendly structures were recorded, with more sure to come!
The Perth NRM and UWA Albany teams also met with the Scientific Steering Committee in Perth to discuss and guide the progress of the project. Everyone agreed that the achievements by the 220 participants have been amazing, with more than 7000 wildlife surveys completed already.
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- The Citizen Science Project Team
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- Citizen Science Scientific Steering Committee
The Citizen Science Project Team (left) and Steering Committee (right).
The steering committee also offered advice on the next steps to take, including introducing the next phase – researching the sociological impact of the project. This will explore how wildlife-friendly gardening and wildlife monitoring activities might benefit not only wildlife but people too.
Stay tuned for more progress updates, wildlife sightings and great photos from our citizen scientists!
MARCH PROJECT STATS
TOTAL SPECIES SEEN: 170
Mammal diversity: 8
Bird diversity: 118
Reptile diversity: 34
Frog diversity: 10
WILDLIFE USING EXISTING WILDLIFE FRIENDLY STRUCTURES
Bird bath visits: 8072
Pond visits: 499
Nest box usage: 98
Reptile shelter usage: 153
Frog hotel usage: 22
NEW HABITAT STRUCTURES INSTALLED: 150
The ‘Turning Gardeners into Conservationists’ project is proudly delivered by UWA and Perth NRM, through funding from the Australian Government’s Inspiring Australia Science Engagement Programme.