ABSTRACT
The growth of ‘citizen science’, where the community can contribute biological records and participate in biodiversity surveys, brings together monitoring and engagement with the environment. There are a range of initiatives that allow people to engage with their local environment, from guerrilla gardening to bird watches. Projects can include gardening schemes, allotment projects and park planting, as well as biodiversity monitoring projects. These projects establish connections with nature, and they use the natural environment to engage with and benefit people and communities. The aims are to improve survey coverage across the UK, refresh volunteers’ existing skills and knowledge, and help volunteers develop new skills, so that they can begin taking part or progress to more advanced surveys within the NBMP and other voluntary bat monitoring projects. Both the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the British Trust for Ornithology run monitoring programmes.
