Microvolunteering

iNaturalist Look Wild Project

The Broads Authority is taking part in the UK National Parks Look Wild Project.

All you need to do to get involved is download the iNaturalist app from Google Play or the App Store, join the UK National Parks Look Wild Project, and start uploading photographs taken with your mobile phone of plants, insects, butterflies, moths and other wildlife that you spot in the Broads.

Everyone using iNaturalist can see any photos that you upload via the app and can help to identify what it is. If you know your stuff you can help others with their identifications. Once enough people have agreed exactly what the photo is of, the project sends these records through to iRecord where our National Park ecologists and species recorders can analyse all the records and check the health of biodiversity in our National Parks, helping to inform management decisions that will conserve habitats for our precious wildlife.

Other environmental monitoring and surveys

Take your pick from these microvolunteering opportunities helping to record our UK wildlife through special events or other citizen science surveys that you can take part in all year round.

Birds

• RSPB Big Garden Bird Watch – happens every spring with millions of people involved.
• British Trust for Ornithology’s BirdTrack app – download the app and record your personal bird lists year round to help the conservation of birds locally, nationally and internationally.

Butterflies, moths and dragonflies

• Butterfly Conservation’s Big Butterfly Count – happens for 3 weeks in July and August or you can download the iRecord app and upload your finds any time.
• UK Moths and Butterfly Conservation’s What’s Flying Tonight app – download the app and record moths that you find.
• British Dragonfly Society’s Dragonfly Watch – whether a beginner or an expert you can help the British Dragonfly Society by recording the dragonflies you see using their handy survey form.

Reptiles and amphibians

• Froglife’s Dragon Finder app – download the app and record any amphibians and reptiles you find.

Mammals

• Mammal Society’s Mammal Mapper app – download the app and record signs and sighting of hedgehogs, rabbits, otters, water vole, deer and other UK mammals.

Bees

• UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme – spend either 10-15 minutes doing a Flower-Insect Timed (FIT) count or adopt a 1km square to be responsible for.
• Bumblebee Conservation’s BeeWalks – walk a fixed route once a month from March to October counting bumblebees, identifying species and noting whether they are queens, workers or males.

Plants

• Plantlife - help with the National Plant Monitoring Scheme by surveying a specific 1km square near you.

Pondlife

• Freshwater Habitats Trust – need your help with their Big Pond Dip and their PondNet Spawn Survey.

Marine

• Marine Conservation Society – join their Big Seaweed Search at a beach near you or take part in the Wildlife Sightings reporting any jellyfish or marine turtles you spot.

Algal blooms

• UK Centre for Hydrology and Ecology’s Bloomin’ Algae app – download the app and use it to record any blue-green algae blooms you see in the Broads to help provide rapid information about harmful algal blooms.

Fungi

• Plant Life’s Waxcap Watch – spend an hour or two from September to the first winter frosts helping to record waxcaps and other fungi.

Ladybirds and other beetles

• UK Ladybird Survey – help to record ladybirds, or 'bishybarnabees' as we like to call them in Norfolk, using the online form or using the iRecord app. You can also record other beetle species using this survey site.

Wildlife in burial grounds

• Caring for God’s Acre, Burial Grounds records –  record the plants and animals you find at local burial grounds using the iNaturalist app.

Green Clean

Think you don’t have enough time to microvolunteer? Why not try these 2-minute tasks that are easy to do while you’re out and about in the Broads, by the coast, or in your local neighbourhood. You can do this while you’re taking the dog out for a walk, walking to work, or when you’re already out and about with your family or friends enjoying the countryside or the Broads waterways.

2-minute path clean

• Did you know that a discarded paper bag lasts for a month, an apple core for 8 weeks, banana skins for 2 years, plastic bags for 10-20 years, plastic bottles for 450 years and chewing gum, wait for it, for 1 million years? Whenever you’re on a walk in the Broads, or in your local neighbourhood, why not take a bin bag with you and pick up a few pieces of rubbish on your way, disposing of it responsibly when you’ve finished. You’ll be helping to clean up our countryside and urban footpaths.

2-minute beach clean

• Did you know that we have some coastline within the Broads National Park area? If you’re visiting the coast at Winterton or Horsey, or any other parts of our UK coastline, then remember to take along a bin bag and collect a few pieces of rubbish that you spot, making sure to dispose of any rubbish you collect responsibly. Also check out the safety tips so make sure you’re safe while carrying out your 2-minute beach clean microvolunteering.

Marine Conservation Society

• Join a beach clean volunteering event.

Recreation and footpaths

FixMyStreet

• With around 200 miles of public footpaths in the Broads you could try a spot of microvoluntering while out enjoying your walks. Perhaps you spot an overgrown path or a broken stile or gate or a missing signpost. You can report what you see via the FixMyStreet app which will alert Norfolk or Suffolk County Councils, the Highways Agencies responsible for Public Rights of Way in the Broads, of any issues.

Slow Ways Project

• This huge new project is creating a network of walking routes that connect all of Britain’s towns and cities. 7,000 Slow Ways have been identified, but now they need to be walked, reviewed, and verified by volunteers. All you have to do to get involved is sign up to the project, pick a route, get walking and answer all the questions on the survey.

Don’t Lose Your Way

• The government has set a deadline of 2026 to submit historical, documentary evidence for footpaths that aren’t currently included on the official public rights of way network. This is your chance to help the Ramblers Association prioritise which of the 49,000 miles of footpaths already identified and help them get these precious footpaths saved for future generations to enjoy.

Keep us in the loop

If you've been taking part in some microvolunteering, we'd love to hear what you've been up to! Please send details to volunteering@broads-authority.gov.uk with some information and photos, and we will share it on our social media and in our newsletters.