One-day biology blitz aims to survey plant and animals in public garden

The Bio Blitz event will see natural history experts come to the Museum Gardens in York to record as many species of flora and fauna as possible.

It is hoped the survey will record the varied range of animals and plantlife in the gardens, including foxes, bats, voles, shrews and mice. The public are being asked to help safely trap, track and count the animals, birds and plants while also taking part in drop-in activities.

Isla Gladstone, the curator of natural sciences at the Yorkshire Museum which is located in the gardens, said: “This is a really exciting challenge and the first time we have ever tried to do something on this scale. We have experts coming from across the county to help us seek out and catalogue as many species as possible and we are sure we will find species which we didn’t know were living here.

“It is a great chance for people to come and get close to some of the animals and birds and learn something new about them.”

The event starts on Friday, June 15, and is being staged by York Museums Trust, York University, Natural England and North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre.