What are Nature Stars?

What are Nature Stars ?

You can earn Nature Stars for using the Wildlife Watch website and for getting outside and going nature spotting. Your Nature Stars total is shown in your profile.

How do I get Nature Stars?

You can earn Nature Stars for doing different things, like:

Completing your user profile = 50 nature stars
Making a comment = 5 nature stars
Inviting a friend = 20 nature stars
Updating your Nature Diary (in your Profile) = 30 nature stars
Downloading a file (like an activity sheet) = 5 nature stars
Entering the monthly competition = 10 nature stars
Reporting a wildlife sighting = 10-100 nature stars. If you see a blackbird, find a blackbird in Explore Wildlife (or search for blackbird using the search bar in the top right). Then click on the blackbird ‘Report a sighting’ button and 20 stars will be automatically added to your profile as a blackbird is worth 20 nature stars. If you report a hedgehog sighting you get 30 nature stars as a hedgehog is worth 30 stars, and so on. Generally, the rarer a species is the more Nature Stars it is worth. This means if you spot a scottish wildcat you’ll get 100 Nature Stars. Good luck!

What do I get for earning Nature Stars?

By earning Nature Stars you can build up your status, starting with ‘Newt to this’ and progressing all the way up to being ‘Totally Wild! See below for more details.

Earning Nature Stars also means you can collect Nature Cards (of different animals) in your online Nature Reserve. There are hundreds of cards to collect – see if you can collect them all. Each time you collect Nature Stars for spotting wildlife or doing one of the actions above your stars will ‘buy’ you a new Nature Card to go in your nature reserve. For example, if you spot an animal worth 70 Nature Stars you’ll get 70 star’s worth of cards added to your nature reserve (this might be a hedgehog worth 30 stars and a smooth newt worth 40 for example). You collect the lowest cards first and the rarest creatures last so the really rare creatures are the hardest ones to get.

Good luck – Don’t forget to start recording your sightings and start collecting Nature Stars.

The top 5 Nature Stars scorers are displayed on the Wildlife Watch homepage as the Top 5 Watchers.

What’s my status?

Your status depends on how many Nature Stars you have collected. See if you can collect 10,000 Nature Stars and become ‘Totally Wild’.

0-100 nature stars – Newt to this
100-250 nature stars – Buzzing bee
250-500 nature stars – Clever cricket
500-750 nature stars – Brainy beetle
750-1000 nature stars – Speedy hare
1000-2000 nature stars - Bright otter
2000-3000 nature stars - Leaping salmon
3000-4000 nature stars - Soaring buzzard
4000-5000 nature stars – Cunning fox
5000-10000 nature stars – Diving seal
10000-20000 nature stars – Snuffling badger
20000-30000 nature stars – Smart shark
30000-40000 nature stars - Roaring deer
40000-50000 nature stars - Really wild
50000-10000 nature stars – Wise owl
100000 and over nature stars – Totally wild

Badger's Blog

27/07/2010

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*SLURP*

Yum! I like this rain we're having at the moment!

*MUNCH MUNCH*

It makes the ground really soft.

*CRUNCH* *SQUELCH*

And do you know what comes out when the soil is lovely and moist?

*CHOMP CHOMP*

Delicious, juicy minibeasts!

Snuffle snuffle

Badger's Blog

19/07/2010

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Hello everyone! Look what I've found...

It's a cinnabar moth. I asked Beebee to identify it for me from a photograph I took the other day. Isn't it pretty? It's funny too - Finchalla told us about seeing a cinnabar caterpillar the other day, and then this turns up!

It got me thinking and I did a bit of research. I looked in some nature books and found out that the reason there are lots of cinnabars about is because their favourite food plant - ragwort - is all over the place at the moment. The moths lay their eggs on it and stripey black and orange caterpillars hatch out to munch the plant. They're easy to spot too - just look for bright yellow flowers on tall plants.

Watch out though, ragwort is poisonous!

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Badger's Blog

09/07/2010

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Look - look! Puffin expert Jen answered my question! This is what I wrote:

Snuffle snuffle Hello Jen! It's Badger here. My friends at The Wildlife Trusts told me all about your amazing Puffin Cam and I've been glued to the screen. I don't get to see puffins very often as my sett is so far away from the coast, but I think they're great little birds. I never knew they were so tiny! I have watched lots of nature programmes and seen puffins bringing fish home for their yongsters. They always seem to have beaks crammed full. What I can't work out is how they manage to catch and carry so many fish without dropping some! How do puffins hold on to their meals if they have to open their beaks to catch more? Snuffle snuffle

And Jen replied:

Hello Badger. Thank you for checking out Puffin Cam, i'm really pleased you like it and have been telling other people to watch.

Puffins can usually collect about 10 fish at a time, although the record stands at 62. They have a special rough tongue which they used to hold the fish they have already caught against spines on the roof of their mouth. This means they can hold onto their meals and still open their beaks to catch more fish. Puffins also have an extra bone in their jaw so they can hold a row of fish in their beak without the ones at the front falling out.

Jen Stockdale (AWT Ecologist)

Isn't that amazing? Puffins are so clever.

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Badger's Blog

07/07/2010

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Remember when I told you about the amazing Puffin Cam that Alderney Wildlife Trust are using to watch puffin nests?

Well, on Thursday 08 July a puffin expert will be live on the site to answer your questions about puffins! You can post a question on the site now and Jen (the expert) will be answering them between 14.00 an 16.00 on Thursday.

I've already asked my question - I hope it gets answered! I've always wanted to know how puffins carry all those fish in their beak without dropping them...

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microsites2.segfl.org.uk

Badger's Blog

02/07/2010

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What lovely sunny weather. Beebee and I made the most of it the other day and went on a picnic together. We sat in the sunshine and ate some delicious honey Beebee had brought.

We were watching all the amazing insects that were buzzing around and saw lots of different types of butterflies. Beebee's favourite is the peacock because if its beautiful colours. I think my favourite is the speckled wood because there are always lots near my woodland sett!

Which ones are your favourites and why?

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