In other sections of our surveying toolkit you will find details of techniques for surveying particular types of wildlife or habitats, but there is a whole range of other interesting and enjoyable things you can do to discover and record the natural heritage of your local area. This section gives you a few ideas for practical projects that can be conducted by individuals or groups. These can provide a much wider picture of what the local area is actually like to live in as well as an historical record of what can be found there.
Put pencil and brush to paper
Your records will be significantly enhanced if you can support them with a rough sketch or a more detailed drawing or painting. It does not matter if you cannot draw well; even siimple sketches help to record important detail and making them is a good way of honing your observation skills. Over time you will improve and, by trial and error, learn which techniques produce the best results for you.
You can use photographs as a basis for your art work. The flexibility and clarity of digital photography is an excellent way to capture images of wildlife of scenes you may later wish to draw or paint.
Get snapping
Taking photographs of the wildlife and scenery in your area is an excellent way of recording what can be found there and what the local area and local habitats look like at a particular point in time. Changes to the landscape can be recorded and details of local buildings and landmarks can be preserved for posterity. Make sure your images are stored with information including the date and the location where they were taken.
The advances in digital imaging have made photography accessible as never before. Even the most basic compact digital cameras produce high quality results that can be easily processed and stored in electronic and hard copy format. Old images also scanned, enhanced and stored electronically to provide a fascinating archive.
It’s a record…!
Have a look at our
image gallery which is a unique pictorial wildlife record of what has been seen in Norfolk.