#613: Merlin app helping conservation efforts

I've mentioned the Merlin ID app before on the blog. It will be a very useful resource for all those teaching the GCSE Natural History.

The Guardian had an article this weekend on the value of the app for identifying species which are threatened.

#557: Beetles

How to identify beetles?

A guide is here.

ID guides for major species which may be mentioned in the specification will be important. Some teachers who are teaching the new specifications may not be 

#511: Equipment: Hand Lenses

One of the aspects of preparing for the new GCSE specification will be the need to fork out some cash for equipment.

This will include the development of a toolkit ready for investigating natural history on the school site and beyond.

Hand Lenses are available in different magnifications.

x10 is a useful magnification for scanning a specimen but x20 is best for looking at detail.

Where can they be purchased from?

Here's one NHBS option.

What is your preferred stockist for this sort of equipment?

Do you go for quality? If so, how can a group have one of these each and keep within a reasonable budget?

The cost of equipment such as this will need to be factored in to planning for introducing the GCSE Natural History into any school. And that will just be the start of the expense...

#443: Some knowledge updates needed...

From today's i newspaper...

#435: Apps for plant identification

There are two key apps for those who want to identify plants. I've already mentioned iNaturalist, but I've also had a play with the PlantNet app.

This is free to download for iPhone and Android.

I tried it in the gardens of the building where my classroom is located. The app was good at letting me know what plant I was looking at.

#378: Plop Trumps

An appreciation of animal dung may be one thing that those following the GCSE Natural History have to develop. It is a particularly good method of identifying certain speces of animal. It is also a source of nutrient - in some areas such as the tundra, animal burrows can often be located by looking for clumps of flowers in the short Arctic summers.

The Mammal Society has a useful guide on their website.

Why not get some Plop Trumps to hone your skills... I have the number 2 set...

But the ultimate pocket-sized resource is Plop Trumps. It’s the business! 💩 pic.twitter.com/fC4oOIDSqT

— Head In The Clouds (@leysbiotutor) August 6, 2024

They cost about £6 from a range of places... 

#304: MerlinID for bird identification

Merlin ID is a rather good new free smartphone app which is ideal for anyone who wants to know what birds they are listening to. Download the app to begin with.

When you are out on a walk, choose SOUND ID and press the green button.

Merlin identifies bird sounds using breakthroughs in machine learning technology to recognize species based on spectrograms—visual representations of sounds. For Merlin to learn to recognize a species by sound, we use audio recordings from the Macaulay Library that include a variety of sounds for each species to “train” Merlin.

Your smartphone's microphone will be used to record sounds in real time, and as the software identifies a match with a bird that is singing, it will appear on the screen, and you can compare the suggestion with what you are hearing.

Here's what it picked up on a walk I took yesterday's evening. 

As the bird's name popped up I heard it's call as separate from the others, which helped me potentially learn it in the future.

Each sound file can be uploaded to help Merlin ID 'learn'.

As the main website says:

Sound ID is currently available for 1,000+ species. You can view a list of all species covered by Sound ID here. Sound ID will be expanded in the future to include species worldwide, but to do that, our team needs a minimum of 150 sound recordings for each species to train Merlin to recognize their sounds. You can help us add new species to Merlin by recording the birds in your area and uploading them with your eBird checklists.

This will be a wonderful app for those who are planning to investigate bird habitats and particular species.

It's currently FREE but I wonder whether there are plans to start charging over time as the app gets more accurate.

#297: Poo

I've previously blogged about the Mammal Society's website. 

This has a section on the identification of animal poo.

Here is a link to the resource. 

This is something which is perhaps an area to use with young people.

We also mentioned poo in quite a few of our missions in the Mission:Explore books - particularly our National Parks book.

This included some creative uses of poo.

Please note that it’s important NOT to touch any poo directly as it can be harmful. In order to break it apart and get a better look, it’s best to use a tool, such as a small stick.

#168: Nature ID Guides

The Natural History Museum offers a range of ID guides.

These are downloadable and can usefully support the use of the FSC ID guides which we have blogged about previously. They are not always as detailed as the FSC guides, and focus on some specific areas, and fewer of them.

They are free of charge however, which will be useful for those who would like to offer the new specification but have limited budgets to introduce it. It will be important that guidance is given on how to reduce the cost of introducing the new specification, which could prove costly given the range of different areas that students will need to be introduced to, and which teachers will need to be upskilled on.

It would be useful to have some sort of library of ID guides for students to access, and perhaps a company will be paired up with certain aspects of the course to sponsor some resources that will be provided to schools offering the specification.

The companies that are involved will need to be carefully chosen however. One can imagine an oil company offering to sponsor the resources - it would not be the first time they have sponsored school resources - often making them free of charge, but with prominent branding.

#63: FSC ID Keys

ID Keys are a key resource for use in the field to help identify plants (flowers, mosses, lichens), birds, animals (mammals, insects etc.) or other flora and fauna.

They are available in folded, laminated form from the FSC Shop and other outlets (RSPB reserve and Wildlife Trust shops for example). They are called WildID Guides.

Some have also previously been translated into Smartphone apps but don't seem to be available.

Each guide costs around £4 and it would be worth factoring in the cost of these to budget planning.

Look at the new specification when it (eventually) appears to see which guides might be the most useful.

I already own about ten different keys, from sand dune plants to bats.

Any school that is planning to teach the new specification and qualification will need to work out a budget for the whole process of preparing the teachers, resourcing the lessons and providing a range of associated books, equipment and fieldvisits. This is why some people are suggesting that it will be more likely to be offered by schools that can afford the investment of time and money. We will see whether that is what transpires, but hopefully I will be involved in providing resources for schools with different budgets.

Update - September 2023

📣New Guide Earlybird Offer📣
Discover waders with our new WildID guide #Waders of Britain and Ireland. £3 until 1 Oct 2023.

A distinctive group of birds perfect for autumn bird watching.
Learn more in our latest blog and get the offer: https://t.co/OKpUSAWqXf#Birdwatching pic.twitter.com/DmMFOMtjPo

— Field Studies Council (@FieldStudiesC) September 2, 2023

Updated October 2023

They also have this fan... 

I have a few collections – animal skulls , poo , feathers – but this may be one of my most prized !@FieldStudiesC Wild ID Guides are a must-have for any naturalist , I take them everywhere I go . You can view the range here https://t.co/SLLse4LjUZ pic.twitter.com/qKnPuX6YLo

— Chris Packham (@ChrisGPackham) September 29, 2023