Staff help record 100 species in just one hour at BioBlitz

Staff and participants in this year's Campus/City Nature Challenge BioBlitz recorded an impressive 100 different species in University Parks in just one hour, highlighting the rich biodiversity on the University's doorstep.

Using the iNaturalist app, 14 contributors submitted 235 wildlife records during the survey as part of Oxford Outdoors, the biodiversity outreach programme led by the Environmental Sustainability team.

The BioBlitz uncovered a wide range of species, including an orange-tip butterfly, early mining bees, a mayfly and a remarkable sighting of a pseudoscorpion hitchhiking on a black-headed cardinal beetle.

Emma Eatough, Biodiversity Manager, said: "The survey location proved to be exceptionally rich in biodiversity. During this session alone, we recorded several butterfly species alongside a wide variety of bees, supported by the diverse plant life, particularly in the rewilded areas of the park."

Plants including white and red deadnettle, green alkanet, comfrey and cow parsley provide valuable food sources for pollinators, while other habitats across the park support an equally diverse range of wildlife. A fallen log was home to insects and fungi, including the cardinal beetle, which depends on decaying wood, and the riverbanks provided habitat for aquatic insects such as mayflies as well as birdlife, including two species of geese.

The results demonstrate how even a short, focused survey can reveal the remarkable diversity of wildlife within University Parks and reinforce the importance of maintaining a variety of habitats to support biodiversity across the University's estate.