Alumni Action Day: City Nature Challenge
Event details
This year the Alumni Sustainability Network are organising a series of nature based activities that aim to benefit the local environment as well as giving a wellbeing boost from being outside in nature.
Our first Alumni Action Day is City Nature Challenge. It is a 4-day worldwide bioblitz-style competition where cities are in a friendly contest with each other to see who can make the most observations of nature, who can find the most species and who can engage the most people!
Everyone can take part in City Nature Challenge from anywhere in the world. The observations made will be used for research to understand biodiversity of the area. York is joining the challenge for the first time this year and there will be a lot of group observation events during the period.
All you need is a smartphone and the iNaturalist app; a free app you can use anytime for your daily wildlife observations - take photos or record sounds of wildlife, including wild animals, insects, fungi and plants. Share your observations with fellow alumni via our “University of York Alumni Sustainability Network” project on the iNaturalist app! Full instructions on how to join are listed below.
How to get involved:
- Download the iNaturalist app on your phone or tablet (Apple App Store, Google Play store) and create your account.
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Check if your city is participating in the City Nature Challenge by searching cities from this list
3a. If your city is participating, join 1) Your city’s project, and 2) "University of York Alumni Sustainability Network project”.
3b. If your city is not participating, search for projects and join 1) "Global Project" and 2) "University of York Alumni Sustainability Network project" - Observe - take photos or sounds of any wildlife, intensively from Friday 26 to Monday 29 April!
Win a duck with your observation!
We’re also giving away an adorable palm-sized duck toy to the alum with the most observations, furthest distance to campus, the first observation in your country and the most interesting observation. We'll be checking iNaturalist throughout the weekend to find our winners. Join the challenge and let the games begin!
Useful links:
University of York Alumni Sustainability Network Project on iNaturalist
City Nature Challenge Global Project on iNaturalist
Global City Nature Challenge home page
*The observations must be made during City Nature Challenge (26 - 29 April UK time) and be saved at the University of York Alumni Sustainability Network iNaturalist project to enter the competition.
If you have any questions about taking part, we are happy to help. Please get in touch by emailing alumni@york.ac.uk