Emma Goodyer, RBGE PhD student, helping to identify pond life

On the 21st June a BioBlitz was run at the Edinburgh Garden. Over a 24 hour period as many species as possible were recorded by around 30 expert recorders and the visiting public. At the end of the BioBlitz 444 species had been recorded, but that was not the final figure. Experts needed to work on specimens that were difficult to identify and it was agreed that a month should be allowed for outstanding identifications to be submitted. The grand total is now 556 species.

One of the particular highlights was 71 species of moths. Trapping was carried out over two nights and the warm and humid weather provided near perfect conditions for moths. Of the 71 species 38 had not been recorded in the Garden before.

Species new to the Garden have been a feature of BioBlitz and a preliminary analysis indicates that around 50% of the animals recorded were new to the Garden.

The Edinburgh Garden is home to an enormous variety of wildlife and the BioBlitz has helped to demonstrate that. This information will help the Garden’s Environmental Management Group for Biodiversity provide advice on how to manage the Garden sensitively for wildlife.

So what next? The BioBlitz was fun and it provided much valuable information about the Garden. Before repeating a BioBlitz at the Edinburgh Garden it would be worthwhile running similar events at Logan, Benmore and Dawyck. So watch this space…

On behalf of the Garden’s Environmental Management Group for Biodiversity I’d like to say a big thank you to all the individual experts and organisations that helped the BioBlitz become the great success it was.

A short article about the BioBlitz appears in the autumn issue of Botanics Magazine (Issue 54).

Identifying a ladybird at BioBlitz