The R&A has launched a toolkit for golf clubs around the world to identify, record and celebrate the wildlife found on their courses.
BioBlitz has been developed following an event at Royal Lytham & St Annes ahead of this summer’s AIG Women’s Open, with local experts, community groups and golf course staff identifying 333 species across the renowned championship venue.
Daniel Lightfoot, Director of Sustainable Golf at The R&A, said: “Golf and nature go hand in hand. While golf courses are designed to challenge and inspire players, they also provide important habitats for a wide range of wildlife. The BioBlitz helps us uncover and celebrate that biodiversity, bringing together local experts, communities and golf clubs to better understand the species that call these landscapes home.
“As we continue to open golf to the world, it is important that people understand the positive role golf courses can play in supporting nature. Events like the BioBlitz help tell that story and demonstrate how golf can create spaces where both people and wildlife can thrive.”
The free toolkit provides practical guidance, case studies, templates and reporting tools to enable clubs of all sizes to organise and deliver their own BioBlitz events.
No matter where in the world a club is located, the resource makes it easier to monitor biodiversity, engage local communities and communicate the environmental value of golf courses.
Lightfoot added: “Golf courses have the potential to provide important habitats for wildlife, but understanding what species are present is the first step in protecting and enhancing them. By creating the BioBlitz Toolkit, we want to help golf clubs everywhere discover more about the nature on their doorstep and share those stories with their communities.”
The toolkit includes a detailed ‘How To’ guide, five BioBlitz case studies, poster, press release and species recording sheet templates, and a BioBlitz report template to help clubs communicate their findings.
The Royal Lytham & St Annes BioBlitz was made possible through a generous donation to The R&A Foundation in memory of former R&A championships colleague Helen Goodman, whose passion for nature and sustainability continues to inspire initiatives that showcase the positive impact of golf on the environment.
Held in June, the event included a bat walk, bird walk, moth recording session and beekeeping demonstration, helping participants identify and record the 333 species across the championship venue.
Among the notable discoveries were a hedgehog, a puss moth, a smaller European elm bark beetle, a range of gorse-associated invertebrates and greenfinch, a red-listed bird species.
Find out more at www.randa.org/sustainability/bioblitz-toolkit