BioBlitz aims to record Museum Gardens' flora and fauna (From York Press)

BioBlitz aims to record Museum Gardens' flora and fauna

7:56am Friday 1st June 2012 in News By Nadia Jefferson-Brown, nadia.jefferson-brown@thepress.co.uk

NATURAL history experts are preparing to scour York’s Museum Gardens in a bid to seek every species of animal and plant there – all within 24 hours.

BioBlitz takes place this month, with the aim of recording as many species of flora and fauna as possible – from bats to birds, foxes to foxgloves – and the team is appealing for help from the public.

People can help safely trap, track and count the animals, birds and plants as well as speak to experts and take part in drop-in activities from storytelling to mini-beast face painting and making bee houses.

The event is being run by the York Museums Trust, The University of York’s Open Air Laboratories (Opal), Natural England and North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC).

Isla Gladstone, curator of natural sciences at the Yorkshire Museum, said: “This is a really exciting challenge and the first time we have ever tried to do something on this scale.

“We have experts coming from across the county to help us seek out and catalogue as many species as possible and we are sure we will find species which we didn’t know were living here.”

The public event will start on Friday, June 15, with a series of Kestrel Parties for children. These will take place at noon, 1pm, 2pm and 3pm and feature creative activities for children with the Hawk & Owl Trust.

The animal detecting will start at 9.30pm when special equipment will be used to find out which species of bat are living in the gardens. There will also be the chance to see live bats up close.

The other events will take place on Saturday, June 16, starting with a dawn chorus walk at 5am. At 7am, 8am, 9am and 10am people will get the chance to see birds up close when trained specialists fit tiny rings to monitor how they migrate.

At 8am, experts will check the traps for mammals such as shrews, voles and mice, and at 9.30am the moth traps will be checked to find out which ones live in the gardens.

All these activities must be booked on 01904 650333 or at groupbookings@ymt.org.uk Further events between 10am and 4pm include bug and worm hunts, a wildflower walk and a tansy beetle walk. Booking is not essential but advisable to guarantee a place.