SCOUTS – Naturalist Badge

How to earn your badge:

1. Spend at a few hours in your garden or outside space at home and investigate the wildlife and plants. Either do one long session or a series of shorter sessions over a few days.
2. Take notes, sketches, photographs to record what you’ve seen.
3. Find out more about a particular plant or animal you’ve seen in your garden – perhaps a bird you’ve spotted or a plant that’s caught your eye.
4. Tell an adult what you discovered. Show them your notes, sketches or photographs. You could put this into an email to share with us – but you could also share findings with a relative you are not getting to see at the moment.
5. Discuss how human activities can affect wildlife in gardens. How can you encourage wildlife in your garden?

A great option to help you with this badge is iNaturalist App: https://www.inaturalist.org

One of the world’s most popular nature apps, iNaturalist helps you identify the plants and animals around you. Get connected with a community of over 750,000 scientists and naturalists who can help you learn more about nature! What’s more, by recording and sharing your observations, you’ll create research quality data for scientists working to better understand and protect nature. iNaturalist is a joint initiative by the California Academy of Sciences and the National Geographic Society.