Helpers sought as park's wildlife count aims to top 1,000 species

Published on Friday 7 August 2009 19:41

A THOUSAND species, 650 acres, 24 hours and one giant challenge – to survey the flora and fauna in Holyrood Park.

Next weekend, experts from across Scotland will call on the public to gather in Edinburgh for BioBlitz, a giant event that aims to catalogue the biological diversity in the royal park.

BioBlitz, run by the British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (BTCV) Scotland in partnership with Historic Scotland, will begin on Saturday, with naturalists surveying the birds, flowers, plants, lichens, fungi and other life in the park.

On Sunday, members of the public will be invited to join in the event, between 11am and 4pm, starting from the Historic Scotland education centre in the park's north-west corner.

Apprentices from the BTCV's Natural Talent training scheme – which aims to replace expertise lost as naturalists retire – will also take part.

In 2007, during Scotland's first biannual BioBlitz, 478 species were recorded at Dalzell Estate and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds' Baron's Haugh wildlife reserve in Motherwell.

Sixty rangers, students and enthusiasts took part in the event, with about 350 members of the public lending a hand. The data collected included records of butterflies, bats, birds, badgers, trees, invertebrates, bumblebees, wildflowers and moths.

Highlights included sightings of three breeding pairs of nuthatch, blackcaps, a leopard slug, four uncommon species of bark-fly, northern marsh orchids, orange-tip butterflies and a poplar hawk moth.

John McFarlane, BTCV Scotland's environment development officer and one of the event's co-ordinators, said: "BioBlitz is a unique biological recording event, when hundreds of volunteers descend on a nature hotspot to record all of the wildlife species that can be found over a 24-hour period.

"By 'wildlife' we mean the full monty – if it grows, flowers, flies, flutters, crawls, swims, runs or blinks we'll add it to the list."

The BTCV hopes to find 1,000 species and records will help conservation work by helping to determine the abundance and distribution of life.

Holyrood Park, which is managed by Historic Scotland, is both a scheduled ancient monument and a site of special scientific interest due to its archaeology, geology and wildlife.

Stuart Rivers, a Historic Scotland ranger at Holyrood and an event organiser, said: "BioBlitz is bringing together an awesome array of expertise and identification talent.

"An aim is to raise awareness of the need to protect and conserve our special wildlife, whether of local, national or international significance."

Mr Rivers said a number of rare plants and animals had been recorded already. Many form part of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (Bap) and several are monitored as part of Edinburgh's local Bap.

Species in the park include the flower of Lothian – sticky catchfly, a pink-flowered relative of the campions – and ragged robin, first described to science from specimens in the park.