The City Nature Challenge (CNC) is an annual nature-recording event, in which a number of cities and regions globally participate. This year, the challenge is taking place on the 26th April- 29th April 2024. This 4-day bioblitz event started in 2016, with just 2 cities involved in the first year. The challenge has since grown exponentially; 2023 saw over 400 cities participating and an incredible 1.8 million observations recorded.
Hull first took part in the City Nature Challenge in 2023 and will be taking part again in 2024. Organised locally by the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre (NEYEDC), Hull CNC brings together a collaboration of organisations across the city, including representatives from The Deep, to get involved in recording nature. The challenge encourages people to discover the biodiversity on their doorstep, make useful biological records, and engage in friendly competition with cities around the world. Any observations made will support local conservation efforts to look after, and connect with, native wildlife in parks and green spaces.
Despite being a very urban city with tight boundaries, Hull managed to record a fantastic level of biodiversity in 2023. 4,180 observations were made across the 4 days, of 854 different species. These numbers placed Hull at a fantastic 7th place in the UK leaderboard, for both number of observations and species diversity!
Since the 2023 City Nature Challenge, records from the event have been made available for local decision-making and research purposes, including PhD projects at the University of Hull. These records help NEYEDC better understand the potential biodiversity in the city and provide up-to-date records for some areas where observations have historically been lacking.
How to get involved:
Don’t worry, you don't need to be an expert to get involved in the challenge! Anyone can take part.
Start by simply downloading the iNaturalist app onto your smartphone, and take photos of any wild animals, plants, birds, insects or fungi. The app will then help you identify your observation through its global community!
iNaturalist can be downloaded onto mobile devices for free from the Apple Store or Google Play, or accessed via web browser.
Any observations made within the city boundaries of Hull during 26th April - 29th April 2024 will count towards the City Nature Challenge. iNaturalist can also be used to submit records throughout the year too.
If you cannot use iNaturalist or are an established recorder, NEYEDC can also accept traditional records in a Microsoft Excel sheet – (please see downloads below). For these records to be included, they must be submitted to NEYEDC by the 2nd May 2024 so they can be integrated into the totals.
So, why not get out in the fresh air this weekend and join in with Hull’s City Nature Challenge? We’d love to see what you find!