City Nature Challenge – Wakkerstroom
This iNaturalist project was created to enable Wakkerstroom and surrounding areas to participate in the international City Nature Challenge of 2024. Wild animals and plants were photographed from 26 to 29 April 2024. Those who participated were part of the largest community of citizen scientists in the world, helping to better understand and care for the nature that surrounds our urban areas. This area included the Seme and Mkondo Districts.
Statistics from the four days were:
418 observations of 250 species with 35% of research grade by 10 observers
74% of these were plants with 11% insects and 6% birds
An amazing 595 identifications were made by 93 identifiers.
KwaMandlangampisi Protected Environment (KPE) falls within this Wakkerstroom challenge area. Since the iNaturalist project for KPE was started over 900 observations have been made of over 400 species. Statistics from the KPE area for the four days from 26th to 29th April were commendable:
245 observations with 32% of research grade by 4 observers with Jeff Morris and Bruce Ross being the most active
53% were plants.
Identifications were made by 64 individuals.
All the results, including photos of the plants and animals are here: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&project_id=188225&subview=table&ttl=900&verifiable=any (Wakkerstroom Challenge) and https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/kwamandlangampisi-pe-biodiversity-stewardship-site (for the KPE)
The next challenge is in September and I hope a few more nature lovers in the area will participate. We need to do this to document our biodiversity.
Jeff Morris (Groothoek)
