These feature pages help to connect local people to local nature, encouraging greater interest in the local environment whilst creating dynamic wildlife maps for the area.
Leicestershire and Rutland parishes (wards in the City) can have their own community pages on NatureSpot – creating a very local wildlife website. Residents become more engaged with local wildlife and wild places and are invited to help map the natural history of their area. Records of the plants, animals and fungi found in gardens, the local area, parks, churchyards and road verges are vital in monitoring the state of nature in Leicestershire and Rutland. Submitted records and images are automatically displayed on the parish/ward community page such that the site is continually updated and kept fresh.
Support the Local Nature Recovery Strategy for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland
The Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) for Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland, outlines a comprehensive strategic, landscape scale approach for enhancing and restoring biodiversity across the area. It is a call to action for all sectors of society to play a role in the recovery of nature, ensuring that the biodiversity and natural beauty of Leicestershire, Leicester and Rutland can thrive for future generations.
“I encourage all Leicestershire and Rutland parishes and city wards to take this opportunity to work with NatureSpot in promoting local wildlife and wild places. NatureSpot is helping to engage communities in the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) by encouraging residents to contribute important monitoring data about the wildlife they observe.” Paul Killip, LNRS Project Manager
Parish/ward community pages include
- A home page (with a unique URL)
- The option to add relevant local news
- The set up of up to three Wild Place feature pages in your area
- An opportunity for local residents to add records and images of wildlife seen in the area
- A display of the most recent wildlife records and images seen locally (submitted by local people)
- A downloadable list of all species recorded in the parish/ward
- An interactive map highlighting local areas of wildlife interest
- Links to all Wild Places feature pages within the area
- A full list of all records for the parish/ward can be provided on request
Access to all the parish/ward pages is available from the Home page.
Wild Places
Note that as part of the parish/ward page set up, we can create up to three Wild Place feature pages for suitable sites in the area, free of charge. Possible sites can include parks and public open spaces, churchyards, road verges, waterways and areas alongside public rights of way.
Next Steps
To go ahead with setting up a parish or ward community wildlife page we simply require email confirmation from an authorised representative of the parish or ward. The set up is free but we do ask for a small annual contribution to help with the charity’s costs of maintaining the website. The parish/ward does not need to be involved in the set up or ongoing maintenance, though we will check that everyone is happy with the page before launch. We can then provide publicity materials to help promote the page to the local community.
If your parish/ward would like to go ahead, or would like any further information, please contact info@naturespot.org
If your parish/ward is missing from the list below then do get in touch. We will then seek support from the relevant parish, ward or town council.