We asked our followers from across our two counties to fill out five different surveys to assess the biodiversity in their local spaces. Residents spotted birds and flying insects from their windows with the Window Wildlife Spotter; they dug around in nooks and crannies outside to find some Invertebrate Insights; they looked at a square in their garden and drew all the plants they could find in the Plant Plotter survey; for our nightlife survey, some even went out with a torch to discover our nocturnal wildlife; and for those who had ponds, we asked them to take a closer look and report back on the pondlife they saw.

Here are the results from the Window Wildlife Spotter.

In joint last place is the squirrel (red and grey) and white tailed bumblebee. Grey squirrels are the most common mammal in the UK and can be spotted almost every time you walk through a wood or local park.

The white tailed bumblebee is one of the UK’s most common bees. Their large size and white behinds make them easily recognisable.

The magpie and the housesparrow join us in seventh position. This year, the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch listed the house sparrow as the number one most common bird spotted in people’s gardens and placed the magpie in tenth position! Local distributions of birds and timings of the year may have affected sightings.

Coming in at number one, as our most common wildlife sighting in the Window Wildlife Spotter, is the blackbird. Male blackbirds are entirely black, with a yellow bill and yellow ring around the eye while their female counterparts s are dark brown, with streaking on the chest and throat. They’re often seen with their heads cocked to the side towards the ground listening out for earthworms.

Do check out How Wild Are We? on our website here. We are excited to develop our citizen science program and watch how Hampshire and the Isle of Wight become wilder in the years to come.

Other organisations have citizen science initiatives, if you want to do more! Check out the RSPB's Big Garden Birdwatch and Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count.