NAMBUCCA Valley joins the Great Southern BioBlitz (GSB) as the Mid North Coast zone is expanded for the 2023 citizen science event.

This is the fourth year of the GSB – a flora, fauna, fish and fungi data recording project.

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The goal is to encourage awareness and engagement amongst individuals, groups and government in our environment and is open to the whole of the Southern Hemisphere.

“We are pleased to welcome the Nambucca Valley to the BioBlitz party this year,” Nick Lambert, regional organiser, told News Of The Area.

“Sightings from the Bellingen, Coffs Harbour and Nambucca Valley LGAs will now all count towards our regional total.
“It’s something we have wanted to do for a while, but it’s finally come about thanks to the efforts of Jo Armytage, a member of the Friends of Newry environmental group who contacted us recently.

“We hope that by expanding our coverage to include new areas and environments we can improve the diversity of species we find as well as increase our participant numbers for the event,” he said.

Over four full days, from Friday 24 November until Monday 27 November, the idea is to find, photograph and upload sightings of plants and wildlife from the local area using the iNaturalist app.

Organiser Nick, a schoolteacher and life-long local resident of the Coffs Harbour district, said, “I have a fair amount of experience using the iNaturalist platform and hope to encourage other locals to engage with their natural environments and take a closer look at what is around them, sometimes literally in their backyards.”

It’s easy to join in, says Nick.

“All you need to do to be involved is create a free iNaturalist account via the website or the app.

“You then take photos of any living things during the event and upload them to the platform.”

This can be done using the app on a phone which automatically adds the time and place of the sighting, or you can use cameras and upload photos via the website.

“The app/website has software in place that even makes suggestions about what you’ve seen when you upload, to help you make an initial ID,” said Nick.

Once uploaded, your sighting can be viewed by the iNaturalist community, made up of amateur naturalists and experts alike, both local and international.

The community will help to identify what you have seen.

Questions and learning are encouraged.

“We are lucky to live in a highly biodiverse area of Australia with a huge range of different environments to explore,” Nick said.

“Sub-tropical and temperate rainforests, coral reef, sandy and rocky shorelines, saltmarsh and estuaries, wet and dry forest, heathland and many more variations of all of these.

“It’s a great opportunity for families with kids or people of any age really, that have a particular or general interest in our local wildlife, to get outside and explore, enjoy and learn.”

Last year the Coffs region came fifth for the overall number of species sighted and sixth for the number of observations uploaded out of the 216 participating regions across the Southern hemisphere.

“Not bad,” said Nick.

“We are hoping to increase the participant numbers this year.”

To find out more and sign up, visit www.facebook.com/coffsbioblitz

To participate go to the iNaturalist homepage and create an account, which is free.

There is also an app for devices.

Visit www.inaturalist.org/home.

By Andrea FERRARI