Television presenter Nick Baker helped to identify hundreds of species of flora and fauna as Cornwall’s first “bioblitz” was staged at the weekend.
Visitors, including many families, were tasked with scouring the Tremough campus at Penryn, which is shared by the University of Exeter and University College Falmouth, in an event which was led by the students’ union’s EcoSoc society.
“It was just brilliant to see all the families rushing around and then running back to the microscopes to see what they had found,” the universities’ spokeswoman Jilly Easterby said.
“There was such a lot for families and the local community to do and having Nick Baker on site to share his enormous experience was really exiting.”
The aim of Saturday’s “bioblitz” was to survey the flora and fauna on campus and raise awareness about the fantastic biodiversity on peoples’ doorsteps. By the end of the day some 400 different species had been identified.
In addition to wildlife walks, there were numerous stalls and games including a bouncy castle, treasure hunt, face painting and wildlife colouring competition. Children could also try their hand at being a wildlife detective with the help of local experts.
“It is events like this, that are student-led, which bring the universities to life in the local community,” Jilly added. “That is key because we really want people to come on campus to celebrate what the students are doing and this is the first in a series of events we hope will achieve that.”
Source: http://www.thisiscornwall.co.uk/Quick-Nick-s-Cornish-bioblitz/story-16402093-detail/story.html
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