Spot 60 Species

Somerset is home to some amazing species, from the Large Blue Butterfly to the Bittern, Water Vole, Beaver and many more. Having worked for 60 years to protect and restore habitats we've achieved so much, but due to external factors like pollution, intensification of agriculture and climate change, our county has been impacted by huge declines in biodiversity.

If we don't notice wildlife declines, we run the risk of losing species forever. There are gaps in our knowledge that we need YOUR help to fill.

As part of our 60th anniversary celebrations, we're challenging you to unleash your inner citizen scientist by signing up to iNaturalist and spotting 60 species between 29th April and 30th September 2024.

Follow the steps below to start the journey to make wildlife count.

The first Somerset State of Nature report was published last year, which provides an important benchmark of how wildlife is faring across our county.

One of the key recommendations from the report was that we need to build on our current recording expertise and knowledge through citizen science activities and nature counts, just like this one.

Your support as our eyes and ears on the ground will help us ensure that we don't miss important wildlife trends, and can help us to identify ways to protect species and their habitats before we lose them forever.

Read the full report  More about citizen science

You might think that we'd only be interested in records of rarities, but records of widespread species are just as important, from butterflies to hedgehogs, to the birds and the bees.

Below are some of our suggestions that you could spot, but there are countless species across Somerset to discover.

Get out and about and record what you see!