Natural enthusiasm

Join the City Nature Challenge on iNaturalist and be part of a global community (4 minute read)

Fungi are fun, and insects intriguing, but plants are my passion. I love my garden, I’ve got dozens of house plants and my photo collection is full of plant pictures. When I visit a new city, I seek out the botanical gardens, but I’m almost as happy looking at what’s growing on the roadsides. Even my photos from museums and galleries point to a certain bias.

Part of the reason I’m so obsessed with plants is that I’ve had opportunities to learn from some amazing botanists. As a child I was far more interested in fungi and insects than plants. Had there been a mushroom expert to guide me when I was walking around the neighbourhood trying to identify what I found from a book on English fungi, my obsession might have taken a different direction. But learning in isolation is difficult, and I never developed the same instinct for understanding fungi and insects that I did for plants.

Now, though, I’ve got iNaturalist on my phone and on my laptop. I’m having a wonderful time expanding my knowledge into new areas. I’m noticing new things and my enthusiasm for the natural world is reaching new levels.

iNaturalist has an annual event called the City Nature Challenge, where the goal is to enter as many observations of plants, animals, fungi and whatever else you can find (the only things which don’t count are humans, cats and dogs). Cities compete to see who can get the most observations over a four day period. It’s coming up next weekend (25^th – 28^th April), and it’s a great time to have a go at using iNaturalist.

City Nature Challenge website

iNaturalist

In case you’re wondering, no, you can’t upload biodiversity observations made of images in Roman mosaics to iNaturalist. However, this image was too good not to share (image credit: Melanie Newfield)

How to get involved

I’m running a couple of events, including an in-person session at Khandallah Park for those in Wellington, and an online session. The online event is on at a time which probably suits people only in New Zealand, but if there’s interest from other time zones, I’ll run one at a different time.

Get started with iNaturalist: online (Zoom) session.

Thursday 24^th April 7pm-8.30 pm

For the first 30 minutes, I’ll give an overview of iNaturalist and share some tips on taking a good identification photograph. You’ll then have a chance to try out iNaturalist yourself on your own computer or phone, and I’ll stay online until 8.30 pm in case you have any questions, or if you just want to chat.

To register, reply to this email or click the link below. There are limited places for this session. They are offered first to subscribers to The Turnstone, then subscribers to the Glean Report, and then it will be opened up to others if there are still places available.

Get started with iNaturalist · Zoom · Luma

Get started with iNaturalist: Khandallah Park, Woodmancote Rd entrance

Friday 25^th April (ANZAC Day in New Zealand) 10am-1pm. Follow the sealed path beside the pool, then over the bridge to the grassy area.

I’ll be sharing some of the history of the reserve, as well as some fun facts about plants. Find out which native tree was used to make wine. Discover how a neglected house plant became one of New Zealand’s most successful weeds, despite never producing a single seed. Learn why one of New Zealand’s most common shrubs has a scientific name meaning “smells of poo”.

Turn up any time from 10am-1pm, and chat to one of the team who will be there to answer your iNaturalist questions. As well as me, there will be Lara Shepherd (botanist) and Shaun Thompson (entomologist) from Te Papa. So it’s a great opportunity to get to know some plants and insects.

Already know how to use iNaturalist? Come and say hi, then start observing the flora and fauna in Wellington City’s most diverse reserve.

Get started with iNaturalist and join the City Nature Challenge. A citizen science event by Melanie Newfield, Lara Shepherd and Shaun Thompson *IN PERSON* - Glean Report

If the weather is bad, there’s an alternative day on the Saturday. Check the Wellington City Nature Challenge page on iNaturalist for updates.

City Nature Challenge 2025: Te Upoko o te Ika (Wellington) · iNaturalist

Online instructions for iNaturalist

If you’d like to explore iNaturalist on your own, here are some good resources.

Written instructions to help you sign up, enter your first observations and find species of interest.

Getting started with iNaturalist

Video instructions covering similar topics

Video Tutorials : iNaturalist Help

If you are already familiar with iNaturalist but want to learn more, here’s a comprehensive guide by iNaturalist expert Thomas Mesaglio.

A Guide to iNaturalist – Atlas of Living Australia

Good luck! I hope to see you at a session, or see you on iNaturalist.

This mosaic, which was several metres high, fascinated me. I couldn’t resist sharing it (image credit: Melanie Newfield)