Success for Country Parks first BioBlitz!
Itchen Valley hosted its first BioBlitz in July and recorded 511 different species with a total of 871 individual records counted!
Itchen Valley Country Park is species rich in reptiles, birds and insects, which love to inhabit their ancient woodlands and wildflower meadows.
Bonnie Horrex, Senior Country Parks Ranger commented:
“A big thank you to everyone involved with Itchen Valley’s first BioBlitz, especially to our brilliant event volunteers including the charities and organisations that joined us on the day. The final count came to a whopping 511 individual species including kingfishers, grass snakes and even a mole!
Our largest group were moths with a total of 182 different species recorded including the Elephant Hawk Moth and the Sallow Kitten. Plants were also stars of the show with a new species never before seen at Itchen Valley recorded - the Slender Spike-Rush! We hope to see you all next year for another Itchen Valley BioBlitz.”
The goal of a BioBlitz is to create a snapshot of biodiversity in a given location, helping to identify and catalogue plants, animals, fungi, and other organisms. Itchen Valley worked in collaboration with Hampshire Biodiversity Information Centre (HBIC) to record species on the day.
