Cumbria Wild Watch launched last year with the goal of surveying wildlife in Cumbria across one weekend. It is back for a second year, helping to build a better picture of what wildlife we have in Cumbria.

Everyone is invited to take part – simply observe, record and report what you see from 26th-29th June 2025. This could be plants, animals and fungi – absolutely anything that isn’t other people, pets or livestock!

Organised by Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre (CBDC) with a range of different organisations, the aim is to gather information of what can be found throughout Cumbria, from towns and villages to the coast and fells. The records obtained will be used to see what species are doing well and what are doing less well by comparing to last year’s results and then forming a baseline for future Cumbria Wild Watches which will take place every June.

You don’t need any special equipment to take part but you must have a way of capturing the records you make. There are two free smart phone apps that can be used, iNaturalist and iRecord, which can be downloaded from any app store. Both apps can help to identify species from photographs so there is no need for any specialist identification skills! Alternatively, you can send individual records to CBDC through their website: https://www.cbdc.org.uk/recording-wildlife/share-your-records/cbdc-online-records-form/

Take part anywhere in Cumbria, in gardens and parks as well as in the wider countryside. You can record everything you see (from trees and flowering plants to insects and mammals) or choose to focus on particular wildlife groups such as pollinators, beetles, or birds. There are no time constraints so you can spend as little as ten minutes to the whole day recording. There are a range of events taking place across Cumbria if you want to join others recording wildlife.

Do see the Cumbria Wild Watch webpage for more information (https://www.cbdc.org.uk/get-involved/cumbria-wild-watch/).

Rebecca Slack, Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Manager, said:

“A wildlife record consists of four essential parts – the species (e.g. House mouse), the location, the date and the name of the recorder. These are called the 4 W’s – the what, where, when and who. Even if you only manage to capture the 4W’s for one or two observations this weekend, you will be doing something for nature this weekend!”