United Kingdom - iNaturalist World Tour

We wrap up our first week of the iNaturalist World Tour by swinging north from our string of Southern Hemisphere Commonwealth countries to the United Kingdom herself. Top 50 observers are represented in every country in the kingdom, but most are in England particularly in the area around London where @wildhamandpetersham's efforts are focused.



The number of observations per month ticked up in 2018 and then again in 2019. This year, the efforts of the Big Forest Find by Forestry England and the 7 UK cities competing in the 2019 City Nature Challenge (Bristol & Bath placed in the top 20 cities globally) likely accounted for a great deal of this growth.



For the first time mollusks are in our top five categories. Its also hard to miss the presence of the mysterious @tiggrx in these graphs who was the 160th person to join iNaturalist back in 2009 and has continued to be a prodigious observer and identifier.



We’ll be back tomorrow with the Italy!

@wildhamandpetersham @tiggrx @danebury216 @philipmarkosso @jeremybarker @jerry2018 @ldacosta @mikeq @lern @bazwal

Posted on 30 de junho de 2019, 03:56 PM by loarie loarie

Comentários

tiggrx was also on iSpot and just as mysterious, although he did sign himself there as "Aaron " rather than just "Tig".

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 4 anos antes

A summary of the top 50 species for the UK:
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=6857&view=species
And the pendulum now swings again. Instead of plants just being top of the list, plants now dominate the top 50 species, with 29 species. Birds rate second with 14 species, leaving only a handful of other species: 4 insect, 2 mammals and a fungus. The UK is only the second country to have a fungus. Herps do not feature in the top 50 species (like New Zealand).
Although there are only 4 alien species in the top 50, this is the first country where an alien species rates as species #1: the most recorded species in the UK is the Harlequin Ladybeetle (and an indigenous Ladybeetle - the Seven-Spot- is in position #5!).

The Mallard is the most recorded indigenous species - it featured in New Zealand's top 50 species, but as an alien, and was also in position #1 in Canada and the USA. Not quite the top bird in both countries, but certainly the top indigenous bird - and the only case of a shared species in the top five species so far on our tour. Surprizingly, the Honeybee does not make the top 50, but is preceded by a Bumblebee (also not in the top 50) in any case.

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 4 anos antes

I quite like that I'm thought of as mysterious :)

Publicado por tiggrx mais de 4 anos antes

Among the top Identifiers, the UK stands out in that one identifier - the mysterious tiggrx from the UK - is top of 4 groups (the next highest so far was South Africa with 2 identifiers each with 2 groups). In addition, another user is top of 2 groups.
Totals:
1 UK (all 4 UK groups by one identifier)
2 Portugal (2 groups - birds & mammals, spiders)
Lithuania (fungi)
USA (molluscs)
NZ (how is that for bizarre! - the colony on the furthest side of the plant -fish. How can the antipodes have anything in common?)

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 4 anos antes

That concludes the first week of the tour, and here I must leave our journey to be a mere spectator.

A brief synopsis, species-wise:
Two species were in 5 of the 7 countries top 50 species:
· Anas platyrhynchos Mallard (dipped in Australia and South Africa, alien in New Zealand)
· Apis mellifera Western Honey Bee (dipped in Mexico and UK, alien in all except South Africa).
Two species were in 4 countries (both dipped out from Australia, South Africa and the UK)
· Danaus plexippus Monarch
· Passer domesticus House Sparrow
The following 7 species made 3 countries on our tour - all were either in USA, Canada & Mexico, or USA, Canada & New Zealand):
· Ardea herodias Great Blue Heron
· Branta canadensis Canada Goose
· Buteo jamaicensis Red-tailed Hawk
· Odocoileus virginianus White-tailed Deer
· Sciurus carolinensis Eastern Grey Squirrel
· Setophaga coronata Yellow-rumped Warbler
· Taraxacum officinale Common Dandelion
Some 28 species were found in two countries:
12 USA & Canada, 6 USA & Mexico, 3 Australia & New Zealand, 3 New Zealand & UK,
and one each for - Mexico & Australia (Columba livia Rock Pigeon), Australia & UK (Fulica atra Eurasian Coot), USA & South Africa (Vanessa cardui Painted Lady), and USA & UK (Harmonia axyridis Harlequin Ladybeetle).

Enjoy the rest of the tour ...

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 4 anos antes

Thanks to @tiggrx and others who helped id species during our visit to the UK last year. Birds are well covered in field guides but iNaturalist provides a good way of identifying all the other species when visiting unfamiliar lands. Success rate is low for some countries but, with the images posted to iNat, there is always the chance that "one day" a specialist will look at them.

Publicado por nyoni-pete mais de 4 anos antes

Mallards are native in the UK? Odd

Publicado por charlie mais de 4 anos antes

The "Native" assignment is probably to Europe. As the UK is not an iNat community (yet), I dont think anything is specifically coded to UK.
But then was the UK not just glacier a few thousand years ago? So is anything native!

Publicado por tonyrebelo mais de 4 anos antes

Wait, @tonyrebelo will no longer be commentating the tour? Is someone going to take his place? It just won't be the same. I enjoy the extra stats and insights!

Publicado por tigerbb mais de 4 anos antes

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