Diario del proyecto Mornington Peninsula Biodiversity

It's BioBlitz time!

September is national Biodiversity Month, and we've partnered with our neighbouring councils to host Biodiversity Blitz 2023 and we’re inviting everyone to get involved.
The Biodiversity Blitz is a nature-based citizen science event run throughout September, encouraging people across greater Melbourne to head outdoors and snap photos of nature finds and upload them to the iNaturalist app.
You can join the project here:
https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2023-mornington-peninsula-shire

If you'd like to see how observations on the Peninsula's compare to our neighbours, visit: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2023-melbourne

The Shire is celebrating Biodiversity Month this September by participating in the greater Melbourne Bioblitz 2022 and we’re inviting everyone to get involved.

Whether you’re new to nature or know your brown beaks from your blue-bills, we’d love you to join the BioBlitz to help document the Peninsula’s amazing biodiversity!

The Bioblitz 2022 is a nature-based citizen science event run throughout September (1 - 30 Sept), encouraging people across greater Melbourne to record and share observations of their nature finds by uploading their photos or audio to iNaturalist. You can view all observations made throughout the BioBlitz here https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2022-melbourne

To keep track of the Mornington Peninsula communities observations visit the Mornington Peninsula’s Bioblitz 2022 project page at https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2022-mornington-peninsula-shire

iNaturalist for Beginners Webinar.
If you are new to iNaturalist or want to brush up on your skills, there is an iNaturalist for Beginners Webinar at the start of this year's Bioblitz, hosted by Yarra Ranges Shire Council, where you can learn all the basics of using the app.
When: Wednesday 31 August 2022
Where: Online via Zoom
Register your attendance here https://yarraranges-vic.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_FzY7L48dTW2ZR0x0tVxj9g

Wildflower Walks.
You can also join our bushland teams for a guided wildflower walk through Shire managed bushland reserves each Friday in September - for more details visit https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Events-Activities/Wildflower-Walks-2022

Mornington Peninsula is joining over 400 cities across the globe in this year’s City Nature Challenge, and we’re inviting everyone to get involved.

What is the City Nature Challenge?

The City Nature Challenge is an annual, four-day, global biodiversity blitz that runs from Friday 29 April to Monday 2 May, 2022.

This international event aims to motivate people around the world to find and document nature observations in their cities through the citizen science app iNaturalist. The City Nature Challenge also encourages some friendly competition to see which city can gather the most observations of nature, find the most species and engage the most people in the event. To find out more about this year's event, watch this short video from the event organisers: Welcome to City Nature Challenge 2022 https://vimeo.com/689504304/593c6ad380

If you want to track the Peninsula's tally during the challenge, or see what other people are recording, you can join the Shire's City Nature Challenge project on iNaturalist https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/city-nature-challenge-2022-mornington-peninsula-shire

If you are new to iNaturalist or want to brush up on your skills, our friends at Knox City Council have organised two iNaturalist training webinars in the lead up to the event, where you can learn all the basics of using the app. Or for more information about iNaturalist, including links to instructional videos, visit the Shire’s iNaturalist page https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Environment/Natural-Environment-Biodiversity/Record-plant-and-animal-observations-with-iNaturalist

Webinar 1: The Small and Mighty Micro World

Date: Tuesday 26 April, 2022

Time: 6:25pm to 8:00pm

Register: Webinar 1 Registration https://www.stickytickets.com.au/9zlrh/the_small_and_mighty_micro_world.aspx

Webinar 2: Leaves, Feathers and Scales: the Macro World

Date: Wednesday 27 April, 2022

Time: 6:25pm to 8:00pm

Register: Webinar 2 Registration https://www.stickytickets.com.au/mto7x/leaves_feathers_and_scales_the_macro_world.aspx

All links can also be found at https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Events-Activities/City-Nature-Challenge-2022

The Melbourne Biodiversity Blitz 2021 has finished with a win for the Mornington Peninsula iNaturalist community. Thank you to all who contributed observations. Between the nine competing councils a total of 29,007 observations were made of 2827 species during the month of September.

You can view each councils contribution on the leader board at this link https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2021-melbourne.

From across the Mornington Peninsula 204 people contributed 6171 observation of 1216 species, including many observations from new iNaturalist users. Unsurprisingly plants are the dominant species group.

The top ten most recorded species on the Peninsula were:

Eastern Grey Kangaroo
Love Creeper
Running Postman
Coastal Beard-Heath
Kangaroo Thorn
Swamp Paperbark
Spiny-headed Mat-Rush
Common Bird-Orchid
Grey Parrot Pea
Milkmaids

Congratulations to Rachel for topping the observer leader board, recording 282 species!

We are roughly halfway through the Melbourne Biodiversity Blitz running throughout September 2021. Between the nine competing councils a total of 11,800+ observations have been made of 1885 different species, within the past two weeks.

The Shire of Yarra Ranges is steaming ahead in the total number of observations, but the Mornington Peninsula community is doing an amazing job of showcasing its biodiversity and is clinging on to the lead in total number of species recorded.

You can view each councils contribution on the leader board at this link https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2021-melbourne.

From across the Mornington Peninsula 127 people have contributed 2500+ observation of 879 species, including many observations from new iNaturalist users. Unsurprisingly plants are the dominant species group.

The top ten most recorded are:

1. Eastern Grey Kangaroo
2. Running Postman
3. Kangaroo Thorn
4. Love Creeper
5. Coastal Beard Heath
6. Prickly Moses
7. Small leaved Clematis
8. Common Bird Orchid
9. Crimson Rosella
10. Common heath

We are looking forward to seeing how this changes throughout the second half of Biodiversity Month!

Good Evening Members of the Mornington Peninsula Biodiversity group,

Mornington Peninsula Shire Council invites you to celebrate Biodiversity Month on iNaturalist. Held every September, Biodiversity month aims to promote the importance of protecting, conserving, and improving biodiversity both within Australia and across the world.

This year, our involvement has taken on a competitive edge, we are partnering with eight neighbouring councils to hold the Melbourne BioBlitz 2021! A BioBlitz is run for a short period of time with the aim of recording as many observations as possible.

The winning area will be the one that records the highest diversity of species in iNaturalist from the 1st to the 30th of September. We will be competing against the Cities of Greater Dandenong, Casey, Monash, Kingston, Knox, Frankston, and the Shires of Cardinia, and Yarra Ranges.

More details can be found on Mornington Peninsula Shires website: https://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/Events-Activities/Biodiversity-Blitz-2021

If you are a new user of iNaturalist, or require a refresher, an online training session will be held on the 2nd of September via zoom, Registration details are available on the Shires web page.

Please feel free to share these details with friends, family and via your social media channels to engage new users with the unique species of the Peninsula.

We look forward to seeing everybody's BioBlitz observations. Happy Biodiversity Month for September, from the Natural Systems Team.

Links:

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2021-mornington-peninsula-shire

https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/projects/biodiversity-blitz-2021-melbourne

https://yarraranges-vic.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_pA_rDJi1QsSgIx5JRSluiQ

Good Morning members of the Mornington Peninsula Biodiversity group,

The Mornington Peninsula Shires Natural Systems Team will be hosting an online iNaturalist training session with Luis Mata from the School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences at the University of Melbourne.

This training session will be delivered via Zoom at 6:30pm on Monday the 24th of May, and is open to all. For more details and to receive the link, sign up for a ticket via Eventbrite.
https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/inaturalist-training-tickets-153256270631

Please share this event with your networks.

Kind regards,

Dan Reed