Friday 15 May 2015

The wildlife Trust recently received this email...you may wish to follow this up!!
Best wishes
Graham

Dear Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire,

We would like to introduce Orchid Observers, a new citizen science project from the Natural History Museum. Orchid Observers brings together photography, biological recording and the online analysis of museum specimens to better understand the effects that climate change is having on the flowering times of UK orchid populations.
The project invites nature enthusiasts and photographers alike to take pictures of orchids from across the UK and contribute their images to the project website www.orchidobservers.org. Here, participants can also help to identify orchid photos that have been uploaded by others and help to extract data from more than 10,000 historical orchid specimens, spanning three centuries.

By bringing these data together, we hope to develop a deeper understanding of the effects that climate change is having on this charismatic and much-loved group, some of which are declining – even in protected sites, which in turn may help inform how we can plan and protect key populations and areas.

If you think that this project will be of interest to your membership and volunteers, have any questions or would like further information, then please don’t hesitate to get in touch. I am also attaching an e-flyer.

Kind regards,

Kath Castillo

Orchid Observers Project Officer, Angela Marmont Centre for UK Biodiversity, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD, UK. Tel. +44 (0)207 942 6307; e-mail k.castillo@nhm.ac.uk


Join the Orchid Observers project: We are inviting nature enthusiasts and photographers across the UK to participate in the Museum’s latest citizen science project, Orchid Observers. The project brings together photography, biological recording and the online analysis of Museum specimens to better understand the effects that climate change is having on orchids in the UK. To find out more visit www.orchidobservers.org