iSpot continues to grow, with dozens of new users registering every day. Below are some facts and figures that we thought you would find interesting.
At 18 February 2013:
- 22,775 user registrations have been made on iSpot
- 160,099 observations have been made
- 96% of observations received a 'likely ID', more than half of them within an hour of submission
- 621,518 agreements have been given (what an agreeable lot you are!)
Up to the end of 2012:
- 7,931 species identified on iSpot.org.uk (worldwide)
- 7,013 were from Britain and Ireland, 6,906 from Britain
- 11% of the species observed in Britain are 'notable' (listed as Red Data Book, Nationally Scarce or Biodiversity Action Plan species)
Top species observed: Top 15 species most frequently observed on iSpot (in Britain and Ireland): Harlequin Ladybird ? Mallard ? Common Darter dragonfly ? Robin ? Blackbird ? Mute Swan ?Chaffinch ? 7?spot Ladybird ? Speckled Wood butterfly ? Black?headed Gull ? Common Frog ? Grey Heron ? Garden Spider ? Small Tortoiseshell butterfly ? Common Blue butterfly
Some of the more unusual species observed recently:
- Otter (also spreading at the moment, but still an exciting thing to see!)
- Box Bug (formerly rare species that is spreading)
- Cirl Bunting
- Phoenix Fly (a rare species listed in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan)
- Pasqueflower (seen a few years ago but uploaded recently)
iSpot keys
Some new keys have been added to iSpot recently, including two versions of a key to trees and some updates to the simple keys to minibeast groups, see the website for more information.
If you’re interested in creating an iSpot key to a particular group of species please contact iSpot – no great IT knowledge is required, just the ability to complete a spreadsheet (but you do need to have knowledge of the species group you’re keying out of course!).