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| A typically blurry addition to the day's list, sat on our garden wall. |
I only heard about the 2012 Garden Bioblitz via twitter last week – the medium by which modern naturalists now learn everything, it seems. But I shouldn’t have been surprised that unbeknownst to me, one of our number was involved in organising the event. We’re a diverse, interesting bunch, I like to think. And I suppose that’s the only excuse I can offer for this blog not exactly taking off*: that we’re too busy ferreting away at the myriad other things Biolisters are involved in, from blitzes to PhDs to the most dedicated amateur wildlife recording work you could imagine. And I can say that without being immodest, because thus far my own recording is of a much more limited and haphazard nature.
When I do pop up here and contribute a post it’s normally because I’ve had a sudden revelation about the wonders of a species group I’d hardly considered before, or because of inspirational events like Garden Bioblitz.
Inspirational why? Well, listing everything is no mean undertaking, as I’m sure I’ve pointed out. One couldn’t hope to build a good set of records cobbled together from chance sightings, photographs, and vague memories, but that’s essentially what I’ve been doing, most of the year. Like I said, haphazard. Where my listing has profited is when I dedicate an hour or three to really searching for things, identifying as I go where possible, and getting as many notes and pictures together as possible. The Garden Bioblitz (do visit its website) is basically a well-organised excuse to do so, with the added bonus of lots of other people doing it at the same time.
So I kitted up – sunhat, camera, binoculars, pen and paper and field guides to insects and flowering plants all stowed in my ‘man-bag’ – and headed out into the wilds of our shared garden. “You look like you’re going on an expedition,” my wife told me. And of course, I was. Because looking, and I mean really looking at the unsung, retiring stars of your garden’s wildlife will almost guarantee you a feeling of adventure and discovery. Simply by thinking to check the large bank of tall daisies next to where I usually just park my car, I saw my first ruby-tailed wasp, an astounding confection of metallic pink, green and blue. I have absolutely no idea what the spider below is, but it’s also not bad looking, and I’m looking forward to attempting to find out roughly what it is.
Ok, I don’t have that many more examples. A lack of knowledge of what is a fairly limited garden, a lack of patience with intransigent flighty bees and hoverflies, and the distinct lack of juice in my camera battery combined to give me a fairly modest total of around 40 species.** I’m still working on the identity of many of them. But the experience of putting together an ‘ordered’ list was invaluable. The few species which were new to me are now, hopefully, stored in my mental catalogue so that I’ll recognise them in future.
And lastly, it’s renewed my determination to persevere with my overall year lists and coax them into some sort of order, at least by Christmas. At which point I’ll be well placed to start over and do the whole thing properly next time. Biolist 2013, anyone?
*For more regular biolisting inspiration – more often referred to in the wider wildlife watching world as pan-listing, I understand – I’d suggest following the Talking Naturally team’s efforts on their blog, or the pan-species listing pages on Mark Telfer’s website. At least one individual has seen over 10,000 species in the UK, which is quite frankly ridiculous!
**I’ve seen most impressive scores of 176 and 146 from other Biolisters, and I hope I can coax them onto the blog with some nice words about some of them (pictures too, if we’re lucky!).
