Fancy a day out hunting for bugs, foraging for fungi or finding out how to help conservationists monitor wildlife in your garden?

Then get Saturday 27 September in your diary as Imperial’s Silwood Park campus opens its gate and invites you to discover, explore and enjoy finding out about nature right here in your back garden.

This day of discovery will be jam-packed with lots of activities for all the family. It will give visitors the chance to ask scientists how they can connect with nature and help scientists to monitor and conserve wildlife in their back garden or nearby pond or even in the forests of Africa.

What’s on show?

• Perhaps you’d like to take part in pond dipping to see what strange creatures are lurking at the bottom of your garden pond?
• Or for the Bear Grylls in you, maybe you’d like to learn about wilderness survival techniques?
• You might like to take a trip through the woods with local wildlife experts and identify birdsong, or go foraging for fungi.
• You can even travel to African rainforests and help scientists identify rare species captured in their camera traps.
• Explore the Tree of Life in a virtual world.
• Or go hunting for bugs in a creepy crawly creature monitoring game.

Whether you are interested in finding out more about the nature around you, or learning about how you can help to conserve threatened species from your smartphone, there is something at this day of discovery for everyone.

Professor E.J Milner-Gulland said: “I know that our local communities have a huge wealth of knowledge about their local wildlife and I think it is very important that we as scientists work with the public to collect information. There are so many ways that people can get involved - from noting down bird species visiting their gardens, to identifying animals spotted by camera traps in remote African forests from their laptops. I very much hope that we all will learn something about how to get involved in monitoring our world's wildlife at the Discovering Diversity day, and I am looking forward to meeting people all ages who share our love of nature.”

Save the date

The event is free and open to all and will take place on Saturday 27 September from 10:00 - 16:00 at Imperial College London’s Silwood Park Campus to the West of London in Ascot.

There will be a BBQ with meat and vegetarian options and soft drinks available throughout the day. There is also a picnic area if you would like to bring snacks and a blanket with you.

For more information visit Imperial’s Grand Challenges in the Ecosystems and the Environment Initiative or email Victoria Ireton at v.ireton@imperial.ac.uk.