Grey4Green project has motivated many activities and actions involving Portuguese seniors towards raising general environmental literacy and also generating more awareness and expertise about practical actions to contribute to nature conservation.
In this context, the Municipality of Lousada has promoted a quite well-known worldwide citizen action, called BioBlitz, related to the search for the local biodiversity found in a specific and planned path and recording it using an international citizen science application- iNaturalist (BioDiversity4All).
The innovative aspect of BioBlitz was the target groups involved, as it was an intergenerational discovery activity.
As children are more familiar with technology and seniors with local biodiversity, it was extremely enriching to create an exchange of knowledge through the intergenerational approach of registering the fauna and flora found using a digital application.
Mata de Vilar, the largest patch of native forest in the municipality hosted the BioBlitz during a full day in which the 67 participants found 102 species of fauna and flora, such as the European robin (Erithacus rubecula), the Emperor dragonfly (Anax imperator) or the European Umbrella Milkwort (Tolpis barbata), and also some fungi species.
The most enthusiastic and surprising moment will have been the observation of a fox in broad daylight!
As part of the Grey4Green project, the Municipality of Lousada will continue to promote citizen science approaches with senior citizens and other community groups to increase environmental stewardship in the area.