Shoresearch

Gala Podgornik

A citizen science approach

Shoresearch is The Wildlife Trusts’ user-friendly and fun, citizen science project used to record the plants and animals found along the shore. These surveys are a great way for you to explore your local coastline and discover more about our shores, whilst recording information on the animals and plants that you find.

Anyone is welcome to join a Shoresearch survey, which run throughout the year, and we provide training sessions as well as training at the start of each event. Trained volunteers are welcome to join organised surveys but can also carry out their own surveys along their local shoreline.

Surveys

We use four different survey methods though not all are used at each event.

Quadrat Biodiversity Survey

The Quadrat Biodiversity Survey is for shores of hard substrate (rocky, pebbles/shingle, bedrock) and involves collecting species abundance and habitat data at random points, in a selected area of the intertidal zone, using a quadrat.

Box Corer Biodiversity Survey

The Box Corer Biodiversity Survey is for intertidal sediment shores (sand, mud, silt) and involves collecting species abundance and habitat data at random points, in a selected area of the intertidal zone, using a corer.

Timed Species Search

During this survey a select list of species are searched for across an area of shore within a fixed time period to assist with the monitoring of their distribution around the UK.

Walkover Survey

The Walkover Survey is for shores of hard substrate (rocky, pebbles/shingle, bedrock) and involves collecting qualitative information on species found within a selected area of the intertidal zone.

Data

The valuable data you collect not only builds our knowledge of the marine environment but can also be used to inform conservation decisions at both local and national levels. It helps us monitor change on our shores and provides biological information to counter potential threats to the marine and coastal environment.