News

The global City Nature Challenge initiative once again inspired thousands of wildlife enthusiasts to record the natural world around them during 24-27 April 2026.

The over 3 million observations of more than 76,000 species worldwide yielded 70+ species that were new to iNaturalist – time will tell if any of these are new to science as well!

The University has been participating in the Challenge since 2023 as part of the Warwickshire, Coventry and Solihull partnership.

In 2026, the partnership celebrated achieving 5^th place on the UK Leaderboard in terms of number of species recorded, which is 2 places up from last year.

This year we had a mini bioblitz and a pond survey to mark the occasion. During the 4 days of the City Nature Challenge, 247 observations of 106 species were made on campus, with the top 3 most commonly reported species being hawthorn, spear thistle and 7-spot ladybird.

Citizen science is an excellent way to contribute to meaningful projects. Learn more about important discoveries made via iNaturalist by watching this TED Talk: Scott Loarie: The surprising power of your nature photos.

For help with getting started with the iNaturalist app, please see our handy guide or come to our next event.