Take a Walk. Do Real Science — Help Uncover Congleton’s Disappearing Nature

When: Saturday 5 July, 1:00pm

Where: Starting at Astbury Village Hall

Duration: Approx. 2 hours, but feel free to leave when you need to

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Join us for a unique nature walk through the beautiful countryside around Astbury — and become part of a real scientific effort to document the wild plants still growing in our area.

Led by botanist Jack Swan, we’ll explore fields and lanes, identifying species and recording them using the iNaturalist app. This is more than just a stroll — it’s a hands-on biodiversity survey, and your observations will directly support ecological research.

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Why it matters:

This walk is part of Our Disappearing Nature, a project comparing today’s wild plants with records from a local survey in 1915.

Back then, botanists documented 461 species in the Congleton area.

So far in 2024/5, we’ve recorded 330 — not necessarily because the others are gone, but because we haven’t found them yet.

Every new observation adds to the picture — helping us understand what still grows, where, and how our landscape has changed over the past century.

This local project also reflects a wider story: across Britain, over 400 plant species have gone extinct in the last 200 years, and more than half of native species have seen declines in range since the 1950s. Your contribution matters.

Free to join — registration required.

Registration link is in the comments.

Please install and set up the iNaturalist app in advance.

Come for the walk. Stay for the science.