If you enjoy using NatureSpot, could help develop the website?
NatureSpot is a registered charity and run by volunteers with contributions from many people. There are many tasks that need to be done and which would suit people with varying time to offer and different skills and interests. Working with NatureSpot is a great way to learn more about British wildlife and know you are helping to grow public interest in nature, as well as contributing to scientific knowledge and conservation.
Here are some of the ways you could help. There isn't a minimum time commitment, we would appreciate whatever time you want to give. We can give you to access the the admin pages of NatureSpot from your own computer so you can lend a hand whenever it suits you.
Image selection
All the species images shown on NatureSpot are selected from those submitted by recorders. All submitted images for a given species are stored on the admin page for that species and can then be selected to appear on the page with one representative image typically chosen to represent that species in the galleries. The choice of images aims to help visitors with identification, ideally showing different aspects, such as flowers, leaves and seeds or males, females and juveniles. Key ID features are always good to include. You get to choose from all images for a given species and just drag and drop them into position. New records and images are added every day but we don't have time to constantly review the display. You can work with just the wildlife group you are interested in or have a roving role across all the galleries.
Verification
Every submitted record has to carefully checked to ensure the identification is correct. If you have a good knowledge of any particular group, or even just a few species, we could use your help! There are experts to turn to for help so all verifiers only deal with those records they are confident about and to leave the rest for others to check.
Fundraising
We are constantly wanting to improve our website but there is a cost to development work. We also have to cover maintenance, web hosting and other admin costs. We have lots of ideas for fundraising but not enough time to pursue them! Could you help?
Publicity
We have leaflets and publicity material but it needs to get out there! Could you help to promote NatureSpot to both local naturalists and the wider public? There are always interesting finds and photos that could be used to raise NatureSpot's profile through the news media, community newsletters, etc. Could you help?
Species Information
There are over 5,000 species featured on our website, each needs good information about how to recognise it, where to find it, life history, links to further information, etc. You may be able to help add to the text we have for any group or species.
Species ID Aids
We have a feature on our species pages called ID Aids (hidden when not in use). We want to develop simple guides that show how to identify that species and distinguish it from others that look similar. If you know the key features to look for, could you put a simple guide together? You can use any photos on the website, perhaps to make a comparison, and/or you might want to annotate an image or two pointing out the features to look for. We can discuss this more with you if you are interested.
Parish Editor
We have dedicated parish pages for a growing number of Leicestershire parishes. Each can be edited by a volunteer in that parish. We want to keep these parish pages regularly updated and promoted to the local community.
Wild Place Contributor
We feature over 500 sites that have wildlife interest. However some would benefit from an update or additional text to describe them. If you know any of these sites, or have recently visited one, could you help?
News Contributor
The news story column needs regular additions. Perhaps you could suggest something that would be of general interest? A new species? What's around or a good place to find certain wildlife. Often a news story just has an image plus a simple sentence.
If you are interested in helping with any of these, or have other skills that could help, please get in touch at info@naturespot.org
Thank you.