If you're looking for a new challenge, take part in our latest free activity - Flight 2 Light. The citizen science data you contribute will help us understand the impact of light pollution on animals that exhibit flight-to-light behaviour, and you may even win some cool prizes!

Record what you find attracted to your outdoor lights in the Backyard Species Discovery project, collect data about light pollution where you live, and learn about the impact light pollution has on wildlife and the simple things you can do to save the dark.

Bush Blitz is partnering with the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance to raise awareness of the impacts of light pollution on the night time environment.

Click here for more details. If you decide to give it a go, follow the simple process to create an account and sign in to access the online materials. There is even a version of Flight 2 Light designed especially for schools.

While Flight 2 Light officially ends on 19 February 2021, your data will be welcome at any time.

© Nick Lambert

We are over the moon that more than 10,000 species have now been identified in the Backyard Species Discovery project - but we know there are plenty more out there!

As part of our Flight 2 Light event, we're asking people to record the animals that are attracted to lights at night. It can be tricky getting good photos of small creatures at night but you have shown us that you can do it. From now until 19 February, if you make an observation of something attracted to lights, in addition to adding it to Backyard Species Discovery, type "F2L" into the notes section of the observation. We'd also love to hear your tips for taking photos of insects at night. Our favourite "F2L" observations and tips will get an exclusive Flight 2 Light cap.

We suspect that some of you are using homemade light traps in order to make your after dark observations. We'd love to see photos of these too! You can email them to bushblitz@awe.gov.au.

© Ryan Shofner

© Christoper Burwell

We've enjoyed looking at your Flight 2 Light observations, and are excited to have introduced a few new users to iNaturalist too.

If the following observers contact us at bushblitz@awe.gov.au, we'll arrange to get a Flight 2 Light cap to you - @thwindsor, @r_shofner, @tamzin_ward_kucurs, @victoria919. Thanks for taking part!

In case you missed the last post, Bush Blitz is partnering with the Australasian Dark Sky Alliance to raise awareness of the impacts of light pollution on the night time environment. While the launch period has now finished, you can still take part in any or all of the Flight 2 Light activities. We plan to keep Flight 2 Light going for the foreseeable future. One of the activities is simply to record any creatures you find attracted to your outside lights. If you have a go, please add your observations to the Backyard Species Discovery project and write "F2L" in the Notes section so that we can find your observations.

Observations to date have covered a wide range of species. Not surprisingly, there have been quite a few moths and other insects demonstrating flight-to-light behaviour. Other creatures were probably attracted to the easy meal the insects provided, and some may have just been passing through on their way to a veggie patch!

© thwindsor

© Ryan Shofner

© victoria919