In October 2021 the Overstrand participated in the Great Southern Bioblitz for the first time ever and came an astonishing second in the Southern Hemisphere!
This year we joined up for our first City Nature Challenge from 29 April – 2 May. This is a global bioblitz with 445 cities from 47 countries around the world participating.
Citizen scientists of the Overstrand jumped in with cell phones and cameras for the 4 days and nights – doing their best to capture and record every living thing (other than people and pets). From back yards to the roadsides, beaches to the mountains, rivers, lagoons, the ocean, gardens, nature reserves and the skies above – old and young were out and observing! Photography clubs, birdwatchers, garden clubs, hacking groups, hiking clubs, youth groups and schools – everyone got involved. And the results were fantastic!
Photos: Sandy Immelman
Cape Town did brilliantly with over 66 000 observations, coming in at second in the world. Overstrand came second in Southern Africa and 14th in the world with almost 20 000 observations. Quite an amazing achievement for our little “city”! Well done and thank you to all our Overstrand citizen scientists!
Photo: Jenny Parsons
Photos: Sandy Immelman
These bioblitzes – apart from being fun – produce some very useful data. During the CNC 2022 there were a total of 1 694 887 observations worldwide, identifying over 50 000 species. These included 2 244 rare/endangered species which are now identified for scientists and specialists around the globe.
A bioblitz is a great platform to get people from all walks of life involved, creating greater awareness of our environment and diversity that surrounds us whilst lending assistance with scientific studies and research.
Now to get ready for the Great Southern Bioblitz from 28 to 31 October 2022! Mark your calendar and keep an eye out for more information.
Well done to the Overstrand Bioblitz team comprising Sandy Immelman, Jenny Parsons and Magriet Brink and thanks to my guest writer Sandy Immelman of Betty’s Bay Conservancy and the Project Organiser for CNC 2022: Overstrand.