Recording as many different species of plants and animals as you can find our campus using the iNaturalist app, between Friday 24 - Monday 27 April.
Did you know that we are a a Nature Positive University?
The Campus Nature Challenge is a global 'bioblitz' event hosted by the Campus Biodiversity Network which aims to inspire connection with nature on university campuses, encourage environmental stewardship, and create useful biodiveristy data. A ‘bioblitz’ is a community effort to record as many plant and animal species as possible within a specific location and time period. This type of data collection, known as citizen science, plays an important role in helping us monitor and protect biodiversity.
Your role will be to support the collection of biodiversity data using the iNaturalist app!
Taking part is simple, and no prior knowledge of ecology is required.
iNaturalist is a free, easy-to-use app that allows you to take photos of plants and animals, identify species, and record the time and location of your observations. All observations made will automatically be added to our Bournemouth University iNaturalist project, helping to build an interactive map of our campus biodiversity.
- Download the iNaturalist App
- Sign-up with your email (it doesn’t need to be your BU email address).
- Search for the ‘Bournemouth University Global Campus Nature Challenge 2026’ project and join it (you can also join the main BU iNaturalist project here to view observations from all time).
- Get outside and start logging your observations!
You can choose to take part from Talbot Campus, Lansdowne Campus, or Chapel Gate.
Benefits to self
Making a real difference to nature, and supporting your well-being by spending time outdoors.
Benefits to others
Contributing to creating an interactive map of our campus biodiversity that the whole community can access to learn about nature.
Location
All Bournemouth University campuses, outdoors.
Training available
You will receive some resources helping you to set up iNaturalist, and there will be an optional drop-in session on Friday 24th April in the morning for further support.
Hours per week
At least 1 hour during between Friday 24th - Monday 27th April