Looking to get involved with Citizen Science? Or just looking to learn more about our natural world?
Here are some handy videos to help you learn more about nature, record wildlife and contribute to citizen science. By getting involved and taking part your results and findings will help to answer important scientific questions.
Ever wandered how to measure the height of a tree without climbing it or cutting it down? Watch the video below to learn how.
Pond dipping might be your thing. Perhaps you like frogs and dragonflies but why not delve deeper?
Discover what aquatic invertebrates are living in your pond and what they can tell you about the health of your pond by watching the video below.
Take this a little bit further by learning how to measure the pH of your pond water and what that can tell us.
Why are we not wading through piles of leaves as they build up year on year? What happens to our food waste? What makes soil good for growing?
Earthworms are constantly working through and improving the earth beneath our feet, yet most of us know very little about worms.
Discover what lies beneath us and learn more about earthworms.
Earthworms have been called ‘ecosystem engineers’.
Much like human engineers, earthworms change the structure of their environments. Different types of earthworms can make both horizontal and vertical burrows, some of which can be very deep in soils.
On the topic of earthworms, lets have a look at the soil beneath our feet too.
While we are at it, let’s look at the pH of our soil and what that can tell us.
A pitfall trap is a trapping pit for small animals, such as insects, amphibians and reptiles. Pitfall traps are mainly used for ecology studies and ecologic pest control. Animals that enter a pitfall trap are unable to escape.
How to set a trap to discover what invertebrates can be found in your garden, school or park.
The Longworth trap is designed to capture small mammals with the minimum of discomfort to the animal.
Some small mammal species are protected by law (e.g. shrews in the UK) and you must obtain a licence from Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage or the Countryside Council for Wales if you set traps with the intention of trapping any species of shrew. Please ensure you are aware of and meet the requirements of any relevant laws in the country in which you are trapping.
Learn how experts trap small mammals and what information they gather by doing so.
Still not had enough??
Here are some more tips and sampling strategies
These videos were brought to you by Scotland’s Environment, with the support of OPAL Community Scientists across Scotland.
These videos and more can be found on Scotland’s Environment Web’s YouTube page.
Scotland’s Environment Web aims to be a trusted gateway to everything you want to know about Scotland’s environment, bringing together information and data from a range of organisations involved in protecting and improving Scotland’s environment.
More information about the above surveys and how to take part yourself can be found at: http://www.opalexplorenature.org/surveys
Thanks for watching!!! Now get out there and explore!!
🙂