Pittville Park BioBlitz

Over the weekend members of the public joined in the race to find as much wildlife as possible in a 24 hour period, as the University of Gloucestershire and partners ran this year’s BioBlitz at Pittville Park as part of the Cheltenham Science Festival (8th – 9th June). The event was hosted by the Boathouse Café within the park.

The event was led by a team of university students, led by first-year Simon Loughran and Senior Lecturer in biology Dr Richard Rolfe. We were invited by Cheltenham Borough Council to organise the BioBlitz in collaboration with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records. We were joined on the day by experts from Gloucestershire Naturalists Society, Gloucestershire Bat Group, Plastic Free Cheltenham, Gloucestershire branch of Butterfly Conservation and Stroud Wildlife Survey Group. The event was supported by a grant from the Janet Trotter Trust.

“We were delighted to work with the university to conduct a Bioblitz at Pittville Park. It has clearly had a positive impact on both the recording of species, flora and fauna and in getting the local community involved and excited about the nature on their doorsteps. We eagerly await the results and our thanks goes to the University of Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust and Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records.”

Janice Payne, Community Ranger, CBC

This was the second BioBlitz to take place in the town as the university, together with Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, ran the first survey event in Cheltenham at the university’s Park campus in 2015.

During the event the public were invited to join in with expert naturalists from across the region and become an explorer for the day. The public helped us identify and record during this biological event, recording all the living species we could find in the park, from moths, bats, and reptiles to trees, lichens and mosses.  We recorded over 200 species on the day – including over 40 species of moths, 30 species of birds, 16 species of trees and 1 species of reptile (a slow worm).

“The variety of habitats within this suburban park increased the number of possible species to record. The diversity of freshwater invertebrates in the lake was nice to see including the shrimps, sticklebacks, mayfly and dragonfly nymphs. When everything’s checked and entered there will be more species than many people think inhabit this patch of Cheltenham.”

Rob Curtis, Biodiversity Information Officer, Gloucestershire Centre for Environmental Records

Simon Loughran, who is studying BSc (Hons) Animal Biology at the University of Gloucestershire, thanked everyone who joined in:

“It was an absolute privilege to be part of the BioBlitz that saw experts, amateur naturalists, students and members of the public all fully engage in our mission to maximise our species count. We’re truly grateful to everybody involved in the BioBlitz’s organisation and to the amazing members of the public who took part on the day.”

Simon Loughran, Student, Animal Biology BSc (hons)

This year’s event also featured the first microplastic survey of the lake led by Meg Stone a 3^rd year Animal Biology student at the university and chair of Plastic Free Cheltenham, one of over 300 community campaign groups set up by the environmental charity, Surfers Against Sewage. The survey showed that microplastics are present throughout the lake with some areas containing over 20 individual microplastics per litre of water.

“Despite this survey not involving wildlife directly, the ingestion of microplastics has shown to cause various health impacts to animals throughout the food chain.  At present there is little research conducted on microplastics within in-land water sources compared to that in the ocean.  This survey should hopefully help raise awareness of plastic pollution and encourage people to live more sustainably.”

Meg Stone, Chair of Plastic Free Cheltenham