Diario del proyecto Spring 2022 Cotwall End

A few weeks ago, we spent some time at Cotwall End nature reserve surveying the many different kinds of wildlife that take sanctuary there. Over just the two days we managed to survey over 200 flora and fauna, and we have so far found over 100 species!

Thank you to everyone that took part in the Bioblitz to help us explore Cotwall End and its wide range of habitats. We definitely learnt more about what signs of wildlife to look out for during Spring, and found some species that we haven’t heard of before! Please go ahead and upload your observations to iNaturalist if you haven’t already.

It’s not too late to take part, there are some observations in our project that haven’t been identified yet! If you think you know the species of any of the flora and fauna found during the bioblitz, you can suggest or comment an identification under the observation.

You will need to create an iNaturalist account using this link (https://www.inaturalist.org/signup) and all the observations can be found under our project.
Please note: You must be 13 or over to create an account and must otherwise have your parent’s or guardian’s permission.

Dates for your diary!
We will be hosting another bioblitz in the Summer during the 13th and 14th of August. More details of this event will be shared nearer the time, but you are welcome to join the new iNaturalist project in the link below.
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cotwall-end-summer-bioblitz-2022

Whether you're a nature novice or a wildlife expert, everyone is welcome to join us. All we ask is that anybody under the age of 16 is accompanied by an adult. Whether you can give us the whole day or just a couple of hours of your time, every observation counts!
To ensure that everybody stays safe during the bioblitz, we ask that you do not attend if you have any symptoms of COVID-19.

Getting to Us

We will be meeting at Brockswood Animal Sanctuary at 9.30am on both Saturday the 11th and Sunday the 12th of June. For those who haven’t visited us before you can find us at:

Brockswood Animal Sanctuary
Catholic Lane,
Sedgley,
Dudley,
DY3 3YE.

Sat Navs tend to take you further away from the sanctuary, a little higher up the hill. We are nestled right at the bottom of Catholic Lane. You are welcome to park in our sanctuary car park if spaces are available – we encourage you to please car-share with family and friends if possible, to help us make our spaces stretch further and avoid disappointment for others as our car park is fairly small.

Public Transport

1 Dudley – Tettenhall Wood. This bus runs between Dudley and Wolverhampton and drops you just a short walk from the sanctuary. We recommend you get off at the Gate Street stop in Sedgley and walk down to us from here. Please be aware that Catholic Lane does not have a pedestrian path and take due care if walking on this road. Alternatively, you can reach us by walking down Cotwall End Road which is a slightly longer walk but paved for pedestrians.

27/27a Wolverhampton to Dudley. This bus runs between Dudley and Wolverhampton and stops just a short walk from the sanctuary. We recommend you get off at Cotwall End School and walk straight down Cotwall End Road to us from here.

What to Wear / Bring

We suggest you wear comfortable clothing appropriate for the weather on the day, and sturdy footwear suitable for the terrain of a nature reserve. This weekend looks fairly warm but be prepared for light rain as we know the weather can be unpredictable!
Make sure you pack yourself some lunch/snacks and drinks – we have found a lovely picnic spot.

iNaturalist

We will be using iNaturalist to collect data on both days helping us record and organise the flora and fauna we survey. Observations can be recorded as an image or audio at a specific location without the need for a WiFi connection!

Seek is an app you may wish to download that can identify organisms up to a species level, all through your device’s camera! This is particularly helpful in identifying plants and fungi on the go, and observations can be uploaded to iNaturalist later.

These apps can be downloaded on your smartphone through the app store; it is easy to create an iNaturalist account with your email and creating a username and password. Alternatively, we have paper-based tables available to note down your findings.
Please note: You must be 13 or over to create an account and must otherwise have your parent’s or guardian’s permission.

Link to join our iNaturalist project: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/cotwall-end-spring-bioblitz-2022

If you have any further questions about the Bioblitz, please feel free to contact us. We look forward to seeing you there!

Garden wildlife week runs this week from the 6th to the 12th of June to raise awareness of the many species you could find right in your own garden! From early morning garden birds to hedgehogs and foxes overnight, monitoring this wildlife is a great way to contribute to conservation right from your doorstep. You might even find some regular visitors to your garden!

On both the 11th and 12th of June, we will be hosting a BioBlitz at Cotwall End nature reserve to raise awareness of the flora and fauna you may come across in nature; this is also the perfect end to Garden Wildlife week.

A BioBlitz is an event where a group focuses on finding, identifying and recording as many species in a specific area, sometimes using binoculars, magnifying glasses, ID guides and other equipment. We will be surveying over two separate days using an app to take observations, whilst identifying species later. You are more than welcome to bring surveying equipment along to help you monitor flora and fauna, be as creative as you like!

Cotwall End is known as a site of importance for nature conservation due to the wide range of habitat types, from grassland to ponds and woodlands to lowland heaths. Turner’s hill also features a geological SSSI (site of special scientific interest) with Sedgley limestone and Ludlow bone bed. It is already known that nationally rare species of orchid and the great crested newt have been found on site, and we would like to make a record of these as well as any other species we can find!

At Brockswood, we are keen to have a better understanding of the many varied species sharing both our sanctuary and our neighbouring nature reserve, Cotwall End, and you can help us to do this so that we can work better with our local conservation organisations to better protect our amazing wildlife.