Protected areas of the Australian Capital Territory 2018: Bush Blitz expedition report summarises the initial scientific findings of the Bush Blitz expedition that took place from 26 November to 6 December 2018. At least 978 species were recorded during the Bush Blitz and 22 of those may be completely new to science (4 wasps, 3 flies, […]

When Amanda took a photo of a little brown spider sitting on top of her recycling bin, she had no idea she was about to leave her mark on the taxonomy of rare Australian spiders.   If you think you need to go to the depths of the Amazon to find a new species, think […]

This competition is now closed. Congratulations to the winner of the Bush Blitz Citizen Scientist Award – Nick Lambert. You can read about Nick on this Backyard Species Discovery journal post. The Bake Off commemorates Threatened Species Day on 7th September 2020 and aims to build awareness in the community about Australia’s remarkable and unique […]

A recent WWF report has estimated almost 3 billion vertebrates have been impacted by the recent bushfires, but admits the lack of data makes it impossible to fully understand the impact on our invertebrates. The new species of spider wasp was collected from Namadgi National Park, during the ACT Bush Blitz in 2018, by CSIRO’s […]

This competition is now closed. Thank you to everyone who entered!  Upload images of three aquatic (marine or freshwater) plants or animals to the Backyard Species Discovery project, and enter by 2 September 2020, for a chance to win a copy of ‘Marine plants of Australia’ by John M. Huisman, published December 2019. If you’re […]

Update: These weekly challenges have now finished but you can still take part in the Backyard Species Discovery project and associated competitions! In the lead up to National Science Week we are setting 10 weekly challenges to support our Backyard Species Discovery virtual Bush Blitz. Each Wednesday, starting June 10, a new challenge will be […]