City Nature Challenge 2020 - London

Enjoy your daily dose of nature by joining cities around the world to find and identify wildlife in London between 24 - 27 April.

Over 200 cities worldwide, including nine others in the UK, are trying to find and record the most wildlife over the four day period. You can find out more at www.citynaturechallenge.org.

Look out for wildlife in your garden or home and help us record as much wildlife as you can - the information collected will create a valuable snapshot of London’s biodiversity.

Please follow Government guidelines to prevent the spread of COVID-19 when taking part in the City Nature Challenge.

City Nature Challenge London is being led by the Museum in partnership with the Royal Parks, University College London, the Field Studies Council, the Linnean Society, Friends of Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park and London Environmental Educators Forum.

How can I get involved?

1. Download the free iNaturalist app from the AppStore or Google Play and set up your account. You can download a guide (PDF 422KB) to using the app.

2. Between 24 and 27 April 2020 use the app to photograph and record any wildlife you see, anywhere in Greater London. You can also take part using the iNaturalist website.

3. You can join the City Nature Challenge 2020: London project page on iNaturalist to see how many wildlife observations have been recorded across the city.

Ideas for activities

Need more inspiration on finding and recording nature in London? Here are some ideas:

• London Species Search
  Look out for these species in London and help scientists understand more about urban nature and how it is changing.
• Try a garden birdwatch
  The RSPB has a guide to the most common garden birds.
• Explore nature in your garden
  Find plants and animals within a set timeframe, photographing and uploading everything to iNaturalist. The free OPAL Invertebrate Identification Guide can help you identify some of the invertebrates you find.
• Look for nature in your home
  Using the free OPAL Guide to Spiders in Your Home and Natural History Museum Guide to Common Household Pests.
• Volunteer your identification skills
  Wherever you are in the world, you can help identify City Nature Challenge observations on iNaturalist. Confirming or improving community identifications increases the number of iNaturalist observations which are transferred to the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) and improves the algorithms which power iNaturalist's automated taxon identification. For more information visit the identifying on iNaturalist help page.​

City Nature Challenge 2020 around the UK

Ten UK city regions are collaborating with 200+ cities across the world to record wildlife 24-27 April but you can join the challenge wherever you are in the UK by using iNaturalist to record any wildlife you see. 

• Birmingham and Black Country
• Brighton and Hove
• Bristol and Bath
• Glasgow
• Greater Manchester
• Lancashire
• Liverpool City Region
• London
• North East England
• Nottingham