A report on the first 24-hour wildlife survey of Wembury Bay. Written by the Natural History Museum and Marine Biological Association What is a BioBlitz? A BioBlitz is a collaborative race to discover as many types of wildlife as possible within a set location, over a defined time period - usually 24 hours. It is a kind of light-hearted biological survey that provides the chance for scientists and members of the public to explore and learn together. A BioBlitz is a fun way to raise awareness of biodiversity and the importance of biological recording, whilst generating genuinely useful biodiversity information. The Wembury BioBlitz The Wembury BioBlitz took place over 24 hours from midday on Friday 21st to midday on Saturday 22nd August 2009 at Wembury Bay, Devon. The public activities took place from 12:00 – 19:00 on Friday and 10:00 – 12:00 on Saturday. This document is a report of the scientific outcomes of the BioBlitz, and also our experiences of the event as a public engagement exercise. A full species list is included in the Appendix. The partnership The Wembury BioBlitz was run by the Natural History Museum London and the Marine Biological Association in partnership with the Devon Wildlife Trust and the National Trust. The event was supported by OPAL (Open Air Laboratories), a Big Lottery Fund grant-holder. Many other organisations also took part to share their expertise and enthusiasm with the public – see the back page for a full list of participating groups. The Natural History Museum is a partner in OPAL, an England-wide initiative that aims to encourage people to spend more time outdoors exploring, studying but most of all enjoying their local environment. OPAL is running a wide range of surveys, events and activities that give people the opportunity to discover the wildlife that lives right on their doorstep. www.OPALexplorenature.org Likewise the Marine Biological Association runs an extensive outdoor education programme through MarLIN, the Marine Life Information Network. www.marlin.ac.uk. Wembury Marine Centre is managed by a partnership including the Devon Wildlife Trust and National Trust alongside local councils. It is with their kind permission that we could hold the BioBlitz at this site. The Wembury Marine Centre runs the Wembury Marine Festival every year, which the BioBlitz ran alongside. www.wemburymarinecentre.org. The site Wembury Bay is a very pretty location in South Devon, approximately seven miles south-east of Plymouth. It’s well known for the diversity and quality of its marine life. Wembury Bay hosts some rare and interesting species and habitats, is a Voluntary Marine Conservation Area (VMCA) and a Special Area of Conservation (SAC). The BioBlitz survey area stretched from Wembury Point in the west to the mouth of the River Yealm in the east, and extended from the coastal fringe meadows out to the seaward side of the Mewstone. This area covers a range of habitats including sub tidal waters, the rocky shore, beach, coastal cliffs, wet and dry meadows, scrub and a freshwater stream. The area within the red box shows our approximate BioBlitz survey area. Wembury Point: Wembury Marine Centre: Night Base Camp Daytime Base Camp Our aims Our aims for the BioBlitz were: 1. To generate a snap-shot of Wembury’s coastal and marine biodiversity, that increases the scientific knowledge of biodiversity in Wembury Bay 2. To identify any changes in species present from the Plymouth Marine Fauna surveys in the early 1900s 3. To provide a networking and socialising opportunity to increase links between subject experts from different organisations 4. To raise the awareness of the general public to the role of biodiversity science 5. To encourage students and the general public to participate in an intensive biological survey and explore their local coastline, alongside professional scientists and other taxonomic experts 6. To launch a new public participation project: the Big Seaweed Search 7. To assess how useful the BioBlitz approach is from a science and public engagement perspective, and produce guidelines on how it can be scaled and run at other locations Overview of the event Public participation activities There was a wide range of activities for the public to get involved with. The BioBlitz ran alongside Wembury Marine Festival, where a number of local organisations held stands displaying everything from seashells to shark jaws and sponges. The BioBlitz and Marine Festival kicked off together with a rockpool ramble, which was then followed by a range of guided/led activities for the public including: • The Big Seaweed Search • Shark and ray egg case hunts • Seashore safari rock-pooling • Strandline survey and dead material collection (seashells etc) • Plankton identification • Beach-clean • Bug hunts • Handling specimens from Plymouth City Museum • ‘Sailor’s chest’ children’s drawing game • Face painting Approximately 1500 people took part in the public activities in some way during the 24 hours. We felt this was a real success, and the photos show what a fantastic time people had. The weather was fairly warm although cloudy and showery, but the grey clouds didn’t seem to dampen anyone’s spirits. We found that starting with a big event like a rockpool ramble where everyone could take part was a great way to launch the BioBlitz and Marine Festival, and then people could choose which of the other activities to take part in according to how much or how little time they had to spend. Ice- breakers such as drawing and face-painting proved very popular. The opportunity to meet scientists and naturalists in an informal setting really captured the imagination of many of those involved, and broke down barriers to engagement with science and wildlife recording. There was some really good sharing of knowledge between experts and the public (and vice versa) and we received lots of positive comments from those who took part. Scientific surveys As well as successfully engaging the public with wildlife recording, we felt that the event was just as much of a success in terms of the standard and volume of scientific information that was gathered. Around 100 scientists took part in the BioBlitz from a wide range of taxonomic disciplines and from both professional and ‘amateur’ backgrounds. Again, we had excellent feedback from the naturalists involved, and many expressed interest in taking part in similar events in the future. The following surveys were carried out during the BioBlitz: • Plankton • Seaweeds • Fish • Scuba dives from beach and boat led by Seasearch • Rock pools, strandline and shore • Birds (incl. sea birds) • Sharks, cetaceans and seals • Small mammals • Bats • Lichens • Higher plants and bryophytes • Butterflies and moths • Terrestrial and freshwater invertebrates • Reptiles and amphibians • General natural history BioBlitz species count Getting a good species tally was one of our goals for the event – especially among the more competitive amongst us! Wembury Bay has a wide range of different habitats, which gave us the best possible chance of achieving a long species list. In total 823 types of plants, animals and fungi were identified during the 24 hours. 775 of these were identified to species or sub-species level. A small number could only be identified to a higher taxonomic rank. The full species list is given in Appendix A. A closer look at the species list Taking a closer look at the species list allows us to separate the overall species count into taxonomic groups, and we can find out more about the kinds of species found. Taxonomic groups The 823 types of plants, animals and fungi identified can be broken down into the following groups. A more detailed breakdown is given in Appendix B. • 96 species of lower plant (mosses, liverworts, algae inc. seaweeds) • 254 species of flowering plant • 72 species of lichen • 138 species of insect • 163 other invertebrates (mostly marine) • 47 species of bird • 2 species of reptile • 7 species of mammal (including 1 marine) • 43 species of fish • 1 species of protozoan Non-native species During the 24 hour survey we found 35 non-native species (4.3 % of the total species count). The ratio of native to non-native species isn't that surprising in itself, and some of these non-natives have been in the UK for a long time, for example the Rabbit Oryctolagus cuniculus and Pheasant Phasianus colchicus. Others, however, have reached our shores more recently and several species recorded are highly invasive. The extent to which some of these invasive species have colonised an area that is so valuable to native wildlife is worrying. In the case of seaweeds (see scientific highlights below) the extent of non-native species was of particular concern. Non-native species are listed in Appendix C. Rare and protected species 91 (11.1 %) of the species that we found are rare and/or protected by national or international legislation (see Appendix D). This result underlines how valuable Wembury Bay is as a haven for some of Britain's most sensitive (i.e. ecologically important, or at risk) wildlife and habitats. Wembury is well known as an important area for marine species, but the results of the BioBlitz show that it is also an important location for terrestrial plants and invertebrates. 16 of the species found are classed as UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) species, which means they have been identified as being most at risk and/or important to maintaining our ecosystems. Each BAP species has an associated species (or habitat) recovery plan. Finding 16 BAP species at Wembury again underlines how valuable the site is for wildlife and will feed into how the site is managed and protected on a day-to-day basis.