Hedgerow survey needs your help
21 October 2010
The hedge in your back garden may hold crucial information for scientists assessing the country's biodiversity as the latest 'citizen science' survey by the Open Air Laboratories Project (OPAL) gets under way.
The OPAL team is inviting members of the public to collect as much information as possible about the hedges in back gardens, parks and open spaces all over the country, particularly in urban locations.
'We know quite a lot about hedges in the countryside and how important they are, but how much biodiversity do they contain in cities?' said Jonathan Silvertown, head of the OPAL Biodiversity Observatory. 'They might be even more important in urban areas where natural habitats are more scarce.'
How you can take part
Hedges are already known to support a wide range of life, but the survey hopes to find out which hedges best support insects and small mammals. Participants select a three-metre stretch of hedge and record information about the appearance of the hedge, how many flowers, fruits and nuts it contains, which insects they find there and other evidence of animals using the hedge, such as holes and burrows.
Once results arrive, they are placed on an online map and the survey team rates each hedge according to its importance for wildlife, building up a picture of the state of hedgerows around the country.
Other surveys
The biodiversity survey is the fifth in a series of surveys carried out under the five-year OPAL project, set up in 2007 with a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. Other projects already under way that you can join in with include:
- Assessing earthworm populations
- Air quality
- The health of ponds, rivers and streams.
Thousands of results have already been collected and a final report bringing together conclusions from all the projects is to be published in late 2012.