The Natural History Museum are running a citizen science project - Nature Overheard - to help find out how noise pollution affects insects and the ecosystems they support.  Insects are vital for many habitats, but they may struggle to communicate in noisy environments, so we're invited to use our ears and eyes to record the sounds and sights of nature along UK roads. The project was co-designed with school  Museum scientist Ed Baker has been developing the technology to disentangle background noise from sound recordings to detect insects and other wildlife, and is excited about what this project can achieve. He said: "Although decoding audio recordings is difficult, the more we have the easier it becomes. By learning more about how insects are impacted by noise pollution, we can support road developers, councils, and others to make our roads better for nature." Repeated surveys are most valuable as they will help to gather as much information as possible, but if you can only do the survey once then it will still help the scinetists to answer their questions.

The project started in the Spring and runs through to Autumn.  All you need to take part is a some time betwwen 10 am and 4 pm, a phone and a busy road. The survey must be undertaken between 10 am and 4 pm, and can be a one off recording, a series of recordings or undertaken by a group. An insturction booklet gives informationon how to record sounds and identify insects.

More about Nature Overheard Survey

Instruction Booklet