Earthworm Watch team members at the London Wetland Centre event. Photo credit: Earthwatch Institute / John Hunt

Earthworm Watch team members at the London Wetland Centre event. Photo credit: Earthwatch Institute / John Hunt

A big thank you to the 1,850 people who took part in Earthworm Watch! Victoria Burton, postgraduate researcher and lead scientist has been busy analysing the results of two years of data collection. Read on to hear what you have helped us find out about earthworms in urban areas.

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I’m sometimes asked why Earthworm Watch asks you to repeat the survey twice in different habitats. This blog describes how we designed the survey to try and make our data robust as possible – to better answer questions about earthworms and soil health.

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My research is focused on unlocking the potential of soils – I believe that they could be better, better at supporting crop production, better at supporting native fauna and better at supporting carbon storage.  As a soil scientist, I spend a lot of my time doing lab and field trial research and it is important to me that my research is useful. I really enjoy talking and working with agronomists and farmers and it was clear that there is a real need for better measurements to help measure the impact of changes they were making to improve soil health.

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As the soils begin to warm up this spring, and plants come back to life, earthworms are also becoming active after a long winter hiding from the cold. With the recent warm, wet weather, you may even have come across earthworms on pavements after a heavy rain.
Usually earthworms are lothe to come up to the surface during the daytime, as they are sensitive to ultraviolet light and rapidly loose moisture in the sun. They are also more visible to predators when they venture above ground, so this can often leave us pondering what on earth they are doing on pavements after a downpour.

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European Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus © Tadeusz Lakota Unsplash

European Hedgehog Erinaceus europaeus © Tadeusz Lakota Unsplash

As the Government recently launched their new 25 Year Environment Plan and focus begins on ‘A Green Future’ I can’t help but wonder, how can we ensure a future for the last of the hedgehogs?  This is where I pull on my deerstalker hat, get out my magnifying glass and begin my investigation in hedgehog decline, Sherlock Holmes style.

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About Us

Earthworm Watch is a collaboration between Earthwatch Institute (Europe) and the Natural History Museum in London

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