Take part in the City Nature Challenge 2021

Attention all budding naturalists! Fancy yourself as a future Sir David Attenborough? Get involved with the City Nature Challenge, an international campaign to discover and record as much wildlife as possible over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Just download and use the iNaturalist app, it could win you a prize!

What is the City Nature Challenge?

The City Nature Challenge is an exciting global citizen science event to discover and record as much wildlife as possible, using the free iNaturalist app, whilst helping people connect with the nature on their doorstep. It started as a friendly competition between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2016, and has expanded in scale year upon year. Last year, worldwide, more than 40,000 people participated and over 800,000 observations were made, comprising 32,600 different species!

This year, the Brighton & Eastern Downs region will be taking part in the global City Nature Challenge alongside 400+ city regions worldwide, including 14 across the UK. To make things really interesting we’ll be in competition with the University of Sussex so get involved and help showcase the amazing nature we have in this region.  Anyone can take part between 30 April and 3 May – young and old, experienced naturalists and curious beginners.

Where and how to get involved

This year we’ve expanded the area of where you can record your nature sightings from Pulborough in the west across the South Downs east to reaching the outskirts of Eastbourne.

• Search your local park, garden, school ground, nature reserve, beach – there are endless possibilities!
• Observations can be made of wildlife on land, in freshwater, or in the sea!
• We encourage you to only upload wild and non-captive sightings. Please, no photos of people, pets, or potted-plants!
• You don’t have to be an expert, as the iNaturalist app will give you some handy suggestions of what it thinks you’ve seen and the iNaturalist online community will help you to learn more about the wildlife around you.
• Please follow Government guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when taking part in the City Nature Challenge.

A chance to win one of six £50 vouchers

For participating students you have a chance to win a £50 Amazon voucher. Simply register your details by completing this quick and simple online form which will allow us to see just how many University of Brighton students and staff take part. As well as the prize draw, your registration will encourage some local, friendly competition between Brighton and the University of Sussex.

Plant and wildlife observations made using iNaturalist on or off-campus within the Brighton and Eastern Downs region between 30 April and 3 May are eligible for inclusion in the City Nature Challenge.

Join our experts for a live event 21 April from 4:30pm (on Microsoft Teams)

If you have questions about the City Nature Challenge then why not meet the local representing organisers, Dr Rachel White and Maureen Berg. Join via the Microsoft Teams session on Wednesday 21 April from 4:30pm in the City Nature Challenge 2021 channel using the joining code: qvzzg9u.