Waterberg Academy's Journal

The learners of the senior grades or the Academy will be introduced to iNaturalist by Nigel Barker (Dept. Plant & Soil Sciences, University of Pretoria) on 22nd October.

The project will be launched at the school on Friday the 22nd October, and Prof. Barker and some colleagues will visit the school and spend an hour talking to the Grade 6-11 learners and providing hands on training in how to use the app and maximize on the learning experiences it can offer. This will be done outdoors in the school grounds.

The contributions made by the learners to iNaturalist for the school grounds will be monitored, and feedback will be provided to the Head of the School on a weekly basis, indicating (for example) number of plant, insect, vertebrate etc. species recorded, most interesting observation, best photograph, etc. This information can be included in announcements at assemblies, and in the School newsletter.

The project will run from 22 October to the 19th November (4 weeks) and at the end of this period, book prizes will be awarded to the leaners for the following categories (all restricted to observations made on the Academy Grounds):

• Most interesting (e.g. rare, unusual, novel etc.) species recorded
• Most plant species recorded
• Most insect species recorded
• Most vertebrate species recorded
• Best photographer (most consistent and informative set of pictures submitted)

While this project will only run for 4 weeks at the school, learners are obviously encouraged to continue to use the app wherever to travel and live, but for this project, the area of focus will be the Waterberg Academy property. Observations made by learners beyond the school property and the time frame for the project will also be valuable, as they will contribute to our greater understanding of the biodiversity of the region.

Seven days into the project, and I can report the following:
237 Observations of 68 species within the school grounds, with 36 people posting observations, most of whom are learners.

The five most active observers (within the school grounds) are:
• David2748 (22 observations; Davis Rorich)
• Wbakobus (21 observations)
• Catypid_WA_Gr_7 (21 observations)
• Daniel_Eagar_WA_Gr6 (20 observations)
• Mauriza_Kruger_wa_Gr8 (15 observations)
I cannot tell from their user names what grade the top 2 observers are in but it looks like the more active participants are in the lower grades! The most active observers in the school area are also very active in their own time when not at school and are posting observations from their home and elsewhere.

The project Waterberg Academy iNaturalist project now has 52 followers – mostly learners and staff but some other regular iNaturalist supporter from the Waterberg and Gauteng area.

Plants are the most commonly photographed organisms (46 species) followed by insects (12 species).
Photos of the week (based on my judgment alone):

Insects: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/99438354 Petovia marginata By Mariza Kruger. A beautifully clear set of pictures.

For its cuteness value: https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/165583951 Galago moholi by Gemma Leonard. What is the story behind this picture? Was it alive? Normally these are very shy and are unlikely to sit in someone’s hand.

Best plant picture: lyandi_vdm_wa_gr9 https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/164881531 While the picture could be improved by cropping and or zooming in more, this little legume (probably of the genus Lotononis) is an interesting find.

Keep it up, and start looking for the smaller things too – and if and when it rains then a lot more life will start to appear.
Prof. Nigel Barker