We can't yet give you the definitive total of species found and identified during the 24-hour BioBlitz earlier this month. Some of the trickier flies, spiders and assorted others have still to be identified. But...........we have already surpassed 550. The exact figure at time of writing is 564 which is a fantastic achievement and surpasses all our expectations.
Figures from the North and East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre so far show there were:
- 157 species of lepidoptera which included 17 butterflies;
- 240 plants including marsh fragrant orchid;
- 90 species of bird, the highlight of which was the Sabine's gull which had already delighted more than a thousand birders for a fortnight beforehand and stayed on for the big day;
- 9 mammals most of which were species of bats, including Natterer's;
- and 66 other invertebrates (so far!) including a rare-ish dor beetle.
So a big, big thank you to all those “experts” and “volunteers” who joined us during an eventful 24-hour period on the 12-13 July. There were more than 50 involved altogether, including a school party of 15. Of the latter, they had never heard so much Latin spouted in all their lives! Hopefully a new generation has been enthused.
