Great Southern Bioblitz 2023: Ballarat Region's Journal

The time for uploading or identifying observations included in the 2023 Great Southern BioBlitz has now passed. At the official end of that period we had a total of 1003 observations, which put us in 56th position. You can see the whole list of participating groups and their totals at the Umbrella Project here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/great-southern-bioblitz-2023-umbrella

Over 30 people contributed observations, some of them deliberately and some without any awareness of the BioBlitz. We saw over 440 species. Thank you everyone! Special thanks to Elspeth @cygnet for her outstanding contribution, topping the species and observations tables for the 3rd year in a row!

54% of our observations are Research Grade, with the remainder needing IDs added.

If you would like to compare this year's results with previous years, I have created an umbrella project for Ballarat's bioblitz projects, which you can see here:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/ballarat-region-bioblitz
(But remember that this year we had a smaller area, as Castlemaine Field Nats took over Hepburn East - the area around Daylesford).

The 2024 GSB will be held in September. Hope to see you again then!

Thank you to everyone who has contributed observations! I hope you enjoyed getting out and exploring, even though it has been a very wet weekend.

Although the observation period has finished, you can still upload photos or sound recordings taken on the weekend and they will be added to the project. Observations can be added and identification can continue for 14 days - until the 11th December. At that point the totals for the bioblitz will be finalised.

The GSB starts in just a few days. Here's an opportunity to kick it off to a great start!

Interested people are invited to take part in a BioBlitz afternoon at Clarkesdale Bird Sanctuary this coming Friday, 24th November, as part of the Great Southern Bioblitz.

BYO lunch to eat on the verandah of the Clare Miller Environment Centre from 12.15/12.30pm, ready for a 1pm start for the BioBlitz (convening at the Centre). Attendees should wear sturdy footwear and possibly gaiters, be sunsmart, and bring a water bottle, their favourite field guides and any of the following: hand lens/ binoculars/ camera/ smart-phone with the iNaturalist app.

Any observations made at Clarkesdale will automatically be added to the Ballarat Region GSB Project.