The UK family of National Parks (NPUK) have a new opportunity for the public to help with conservation – with a little help from a bit of technology.
‘Look Wild’ is a free app that anyone can get on their phone and then use to upload photos or audio of wildlife that they find on their travels. Don’t worry if you don’t know anything about identifying plants or animals because the app – and the community involved with it – will help identify them for you. You can become a conservationist and scientist as you collect data on the beautiful flora and fauna that surrounds you.
The way the app works is very simple:
- First, you need to download the iNaturalist app to your phone, or visit the iNaturalist website. From there you need to create an account, and sign-up to the National Parks UK Look Wild project.
- Go outside and enjoy the outdoors!
- While on your adventures, take photos of any insects, plants or animals you see or find interesting. Just make sure they’re in as much detail as possible. You can also record audio!
- You can then upload your photos and audio to the app, along with the details of what you saw and when you saw it. Don’t worry if you don’t know what you saw as the app will identify it for you and it will be confirmed by the iNaturalist community.
Anything and everything is useful, don’t think anything you spot is too small or too common. Any information can help us understand wildlife in local areas and will inform us on what to do for future conservation work.
For more information about the Look Wild project, please contact Sally Robertshaw on sally.robertshaw@yorkshiredales.org.uk or Kim Scholey on kim.scholey@yorkshiredales.org.uk