Selections from the two years results of the „WildWatcher” volunteer based wildlife registration system
Abstract
Halting the loss of biodiversity is one of the biggest challenge of our century. The observation of the widespread and relatively frequent species often means a non-executable task for the experts. Involving the public in this activity provides a huge amount of valuable data and plays a significant educational role. The „WildWatcher” programme started in September 2009 and managed by the Ministry of Rural Development aims to realize the above mentioned goals. At the beginning of the programme the data of 9, at present the data of 15 easily recognizable, widespread, protected animal and plant species can be recorded with the help of a GoogleMap based website. The data are validated by specialists before adding them to a database. 4700 observations of about 1300 participants were recorded during the two-year-long operation. We have received the most data about the hedgehog (Erinaceus roumanicus), but the squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris) and the stag-beetle (Lucanus cervus) are also among the winners. The spring pheasant’s eye (Adonis vernalis) was the most „popular” out of the plant species, followed by snowdrop (Galanthus nivalis) and pasqueflower (Pulsatilla grandis), which was „The wild plant species of the year” in 2011. The data recorded until now show that a large number of volunteers join with pleasure the survey of the easily recognizable species and the data provided by them contribute to the nature conservation work as a valuable input.
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