© Surrey Wildlife Trust
Citizen Science volunteering
What is Citizen Science?
Citizen science projects are a great way to learn more about the wonderful wildlife on our doorstep, at the same time as helping to protect it. It is a flexible volunteering option which you can fit around a busy schedule and take part whenever suits you best!
To understand how we can best help individual species, we have to gather a lot of information about things such as its distribution, habitat choices and behaviour. Even more importantly, we have to monitor how these things change over time, in order to spot worrying trends, identify issues and plan practical actions to support nature recovery. The more information we have, the better.
But that's a lot of data to gather and scientists alone would struggle to collect as much as they need. That's where citizen science projects come in. By working together with volunteers, scientists and conservationists can collect much more information about the species they are studying. Sometimes specialist knowledge is required, but often a basic grasp of wildlife is all you need to get involved - some projects offer training or identification guides to help you, too.
Get involved
If you’d like to get involved in citizen science volunteering, please register your interest below and we will be in touch with further information.
Redwing © Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
Wildlife Recording
You don't need to take part in an organised survey to make your wildlife spotting count. Recording your everyday sightings can help scientists learn more about wildlife - how common certain species are, where they're found, whether they are moving in response to climate change.
The more information you can record the better, but the basic things to note are the species name, the date, the number of individuals you spotted and a grid reference for the location. Taking a photo can be very helpful to confirm your sighting.
You can submit your records to Surrey Biodiversity Information Centre (SBIC).
Interested in a particular species?
There are a wealth of specialist Biological Recording Groups throughout Surrey you can join. Many run special events for beginners or use online resources where people can share images of species they have recorded to assist with species identification.
Volunteer enquiries
Email volunteers@surreywt.org.uk
Call 01483 795464