Around 350 people took part in Oxford BioBlitz 2012 – the world’s first ever urban BioBlitz.
Recording started at noon on Saturday 23rd June, carried on through the torrential downpours on Saturday night, and finished in the sunshine at noon on Sunday 24th. It has so far generated 1420 records, which have given us 777 unique species. The largest group was invertebrates, with almost half of the total number of unique species. However, the number we found was less than we would expect, probably because of the bad weather on Saturday night.
| Species recorded (not unique) | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Area | Amphibian | Bird | Fish | Fungus | Invertebrate | Mammal | Plant | Total |
| Residential Area | 16 | 1 | 113 | 11 | 109 | 250 | ||
| South Park | 13 | 6 | 70 | 8 | 215 | 312 | ||
| Angel & Greyhound | 59 | 2 | 7 | 213 | 6 | 265 | 552 | |
| St Clement’s Church | 1 | 15 | 112 | 3 | 131 | 262 | ||
| River | 1 | 30 | 2 | 33 | ||||
| Total | 1 | 104 | 3 | 15 | 545 | 30 | 722 | 1420 |
Scientific highlights were a species of ladybird and a beetle never before found in Oxfordshire, and a bee which was only the second one ever found in the county.
The cute fluffy animals we found included foxes and hedgehogs; buzzards, jays and long-tailed tits; and a remarkable number of bank voles down by the river, who were so hungry that they prevented anything else from getting near to the traps we had laid out.
The most numerous species we found were humans. Lots and lots of humans.
We are currently working on plans for another event in 2013. If you have any thoughts about how we can make that event even more of a success, or you just want to be involved, then get in touch.
A full provisional list of the species found can be downloaded here. If you have any comments or spot any mistakes, please let us know.