Over the last several months we’ve been busy getting everything ready for the launch of Earthworm Watch. From filming our instruction video in the Natural History Museum garden, to testing and refining the methods for Earthworm Watch with our colleagues, friends and family. We are delighted to now launch this new project and - with your help - start collecting the first earthworm and soil data from gardens and green spaces around the country.

As the soils warm up this spring, and plants come back to life, earthworms are also becoming active after a long winter hiding from the cold. This means that now is the ideal time of year to delve into your garden soils and become part of a nationwide effort to map soil health and the influence of earthworms nationally.

Earthworm Watch’s expert scientist, Victoria Burton is very excited to see the first sets of earthworm abundance data come through. This will help us map where the greatest numbers of earthworms are and begin to understand why some places have more earthworms, whereas others might not. Dr Alan Jones is fascinated to learn about the relationship between earthworms and soil carbon – which may help us determine if earthworms are beneficial in protecting us against climate change.

We hope you will find lots of earthworms and enjoy taking part in Earthworm Watch this springtime – helping discover the hidden world of earthworms in your soil!