Cumbria's first Wild Watch is hoping to get 1,000 people to record what's in their gardens or local area to help researchers understand the makeup of our natural landscape.

The Cumbria Wild Watch will give Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre a greater understanding of how the biodiversity crisis is affecting Cumbria by collecting as much data as possible with support from residents across the county.

All you have to do is spend an hour outside looking at the plants, bugs, birds, and more and record your findings on the iNaturalist app. 

Rebecca Slack, manager at the centre, said: "Once we have that information, we can then make much better decisions for conservation, for development, land management and so much more.

"There's so much we can use this information for, it's kind of really impossible to list it all, but it just helps to inform all those really key decisions about how we use our land, whether that's gardens, parks or the wider countryside."

People should record everything even if it's something as common as a dandelion or a nettle, as it will inform future generations on Cumbria's wildlife in years to come.

As well as building up a bank of data on local wildlife, the hope is that it will encourage more people to get outside and connect more with nature.

It will also improve identification skills as the app uses artificial intelligence to support with the recording process. 

"We have an ambition in Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre, to make Cumbria the most nature connected county in the UK," said Rebecca.

"So we really want to encourage people to get out there, get engaged with wildlife."

Cumbria Wild Watch will run until 11.59pm on Sunday, you can find out more on the Cumbria Biodiversity Data Centre Website.