Conservation Comment: App helps track species

Beautiful but a worry: The blue crown passionfruit is a survivor.

By Andrea Harris

I have recently discovered the website and app for Naturewatch. It is a worldwide digital library that allows anyone with an interest in birds, animals, insects and plants to share their discoveries and obtain assistance in identification if needed.

Each upload is given a time and GPS location stamp. You can search by species, location or project. Experts online will share their opinions and debate over genus and family.

This app can be a great tool for tracking the distribution of a species for the purpose of preservation or eradication.

Does this sound like work? No. Quite the opposite.

As a volunteer in the Castlecliff Coast Care team, I have been able to record what is in our project area. I have also explored other parks and reserves in the area eg. Titoki St wetland, Bason Botanical Reserve, Gordon's Bush Scenic Reserve, Westmere Lake Wildlife Refuge and our famous Virginia Lake (Rotokawau).

Uploading is easy once you have a profile set up. If the location setting is on your phone, you can do it on site as long as you have wifi. Or you can upload a GPS app to record your location. You can bulk upload on a standard device.

The benefits are many. You can compare project sites, track a species of interest and, as I have been doing, set up your own project site. Or you can simply pick any place in the world and see what lives there. Kids would love this app.

Already I have started several online debates. For example, the difference between a huhu, grass and sand scarab grub. The orange worm that is not a worm at all and the very bad photo of a camera-shy slater spider. You try getting up close and personal with a fast-moving minibeast. Watch my nz naturewatch profile ... 'xplore' for updates on these.

But there's more ...

I have uploaded everything from the common to the rare and even invaders. Many of them started as garden escapees from people who were avoiding tip fees. My favourites to date include a blood lily, a greenhooded orchid and dare I say it ... the beautiful but worrying blue crown passionfruit (Passiflora caerulea). I have attempted to remove it but expect it will appear in my hedge again this spring.

At this point it is just me and our Whanganui beetle expert Rudi, but it is still early days. I invite you to add more photos to our project.

So what is my ultimate purpose here? I invite you to join the party. This is a fun and educational way to learn about the world around you and assist our hard-working local organisations, who are trying their best to look after our beautiful places.

Even better, join our volunteers in the many groups currently in action all over Whanganui. It is thanks to many hands that we have these places at all. I hope that schools will also visit the site and encourage children to explore their environment. Then come and join us for a day of planting and minibeast adventures.

So what are you waiting for? Get into it.

Andrea Harris

Andrea Harris is a gardener, minibeast hunter and Department of Conservation volunteer.