Bio blitz takes stock of park insect life

The insects and snails in Bushy Park will be under the microscope, as well as the birds.

A group of nature lovers is about to discover a whole lot more about the biodiversity of Bushy Park.

A 24-hour bio blitz is being held at the sanctuary next month with the aim of discovering and documenting what lives there.

Organised by Bushy Park and the Whanganui Regional Museum, scientists and professionals will join members of the public in the blitz which anyone is welcome to attend.

"We know a lot about the birds but really we have no idea what sort of insects and snails and so forth live there," regional museum natural history curator Mike Dickison said.

"They don't get much attention so we are trying to reverse that. They are a really important part of the biodiversity."

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Mr Dickison said it would be particularly interesting to see what peripatus (velvet worms) lived there. He said it was a primitive type worm that had been spotted there but was undocumented.

"They're quite incredible little creatures. People have supposedly seen them in Bushy Park but we haven't really caught one or photographed one."

It was essentially a stocktake of life in the park, he said.

"To get a record of everything that lives there so that future researchers have something to start with.

"It's going to be fun because we'll have experts and scientists from out of town all in the park together. But we also want members of the public to rock up."

Mr Dickison said anyone was welcome and could stay for the whole 24 hours or as short a time as they wanted.

People will be divided into teams and sent to different areas of the park to explore and take photos and notes.

The bio blitz starts at 12pm on Saturday, February 13 and goes until 12pm the following day. People can register their interest at www.bushyparkbioblitz.org.