Native Wildlife Spotted on Site!

The team at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm have been busy surveying the native species across the site as a part of the British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) Spotted on Site campaign.

Over the last two months staff have been recording and photographing native species at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, including plants, vertebrates and invertebrates. These wildlife documentations are part of BIAZA’s Spotted on Site campaign – a project dedicated to that allows its member to collaborate with iNaturalistUK and the National Biodiversity Network Trust (NBN Trust). The campaign encourages staff and volunteers from member sites to use the iNaturalist app to record native species to create easy-to-use data which feeds into research projects across the UK, Europe, and the world.

Through working on this campaign, BIAZA members are providing an insight into just how biodiverse the natural areas we provide can be.

Our team have been greatly encouraged by the biodiversity of native species across the site. Recently spotted species include:

• Peregrine Falcon
• Eurasian Kestrel
• Green Woodpecker
• Brown Hare
• Stoat
• Roe Deer
• Eurasian Toad
• Smooth Newts
• Buff-tailed Bumblebees
• Stag Beetles
• Southern Hawker Dragonfly
• Brown Long-eared Bat
• Pyramidal Orchid

We want to encourage our visitors to get involved, too! You can join in by using #noahsarkzoofarm when posting pictures of wildlife that you see around the zoo, or you can even have a go at recording wildlife yourself using the iNaturalist app.

Here at Noah’s Ark Zoo Farm, we are not only enthusiastic about local wildlife, but we are also passionate about wildlife across the globe and doing what we can to help protect it. Many of our animals are ambassadors for their counterparts and habitats around the world, and we host a number of species that are endangered due to habitat loss and other environmental factors. Consequently, working with charities who work to protect these habitats is of upmost importance to us. At present we support World Land Trust and Spectacled Bear Conservation who both do critical work in conserving wildlife and land around the globe.

Additionally, we also work with organisations whose focus is closer to home. This week we received a visit from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), the UK’s largest nature conservation charity, who spent the day on site talking to visitors about ways we can identity and protect native species!