Wild Newcastle

A new iRecord group for naturalists and local people passionate about recording wildlife in Newcastle.

About Wild Newcastle

Wildlife in Newcastle is incredibly diverse and each year, new species are being discovered within the city limits.

Local naturalists, organisations and of course, the local council, need to know what’s here in order to protect it.

Knowing where to send your wildlife sightings can be difficult, as can exploring the sightings of others in your area. That’s why I’ve set up Wild Newcastle on iRecord.

Whether you choose to take part, or simply browse the sightings of others, I hope this new project interests you.

Nature in the city

I might be somewhat biased as a city-dweller myself, but I believe our urban spaces are fantastic for wildlife. Parks, gardens, verges, playing fields, car parks, and forgotten corners, all provide a valuable home for nature.

Wildlife in Newcastle faces many challenges but thankfully, we are blessed with a wide variety of habitats to explore. This diversity means that our city is home to a fantastic array of wildlife. Bees, bryophytes, badgers, you name it!

Knowing which species share our city, where they are, and how they’re doing is important to local decision-making. Equally important is that this information is useful for inspiring further recording in the future. That’s why having chatted to other local naturalists I’ve set up Wild Newcastle on iRecord.

Water Ladybird, *Anisosticta novemdecimpunctata*, at Gosforth Nature Reserve

A new way to record wildlife in Newcastle

Wild Newcastle has been created to record and monitor Newcastle’s wildlife, but also to make sightings accessible to those who might like to see what has been seen near them.

By joining the new group on iRecord, you’ll see what others have been recording and where. You’ll be able to use this to inform your local walks and target your recording. By sharing your sightings, you ensure that your records are shared with national schemes and of course, ERIC North East. Such is the integrated nature of iRecord.

Sightings of all taxa are welcome, whether you’re recording flowers, flies or fish. You can also browse species, league tables and locations by visiting the ‘Activity Summary‘ tab of your activities dashboard.

Will Wild Newcastle encourage others to take part and record Newcastle’s wildlife? I’m not sure, but I’ll certainly be giving it a go…

Join in on iRecord

The flora and fauna of Newcastle upon Tyne are incredibly diverse but just how many species live alongside us in the city?

This activity has been created to help record and monitor wildlife within the city limits of Newcastle. I hope it will provide an up-to-date list of what has been seen, and where, within the city to encourage wildlife recorders. Something which is difficult at present, absent time-consuming searches.

Taking part is simple: sign in to iRecord, join the activity and start spotting. Once you’ve signed up, any sighting within Newcastle will be counted automatically. There is no time-consuming form.

Join in

A few thing to remember…

Sightings still get to where they’re needed. All sightings added to the project will automatically be shared with national schemes, our local records centre and most importantly, NBN. Such is the nature of iRecord.
Photo permissions are important. The photo permissions you chose while setting up an iRecord dictate how your Wild Newcastle sightings can be used. For example, in group updates.
What you include is up to you. For more information about creating a wildlife record, see here.
Just for fun. This activity has been set up by myself as an individual, not any group or organisation I may represent.

Sharing information

Wild Newcastle is very much a community activity. This means it is easy to download and share records submitted to the group, even for a specific place. E.g a park or nature reserve.

The wandering nature of wildlife recorders means that there could well be records for the patch of Newcastle you’re interested. Please contact jamesmcommon@gmail.com for more information.

Alternatively, why not join the group and search the records yourself!