'Dove is in the air' at Parwich.org

A little local wildlife can bring a lovely bit of colour to a community website.  Take a look around you – are there flowers in bloom, ducklings waddling along the canal towpath or a pet kitty prowling the neighbourhood?

Kings Cross Environments Springwatch - Collier Street blossom

Take a photo of the local fauna and flora and put them onto your website to really warm the hearts of your readers.  You might even get a few comments along the lines of ‘Awwwwwww’ or some photo contributions of their furry friends for your troubles.

Spring on Oakfield Road, Birmingham B29

Jane B at Parwich.org is obviously a keen ornithologist and often posts some lovely pictures of birds onto the village website.  William Perrin at Kings Cross Environments has made a feature of local wildlife with ‘Springwatch’, posts featuring the spring coming into bloom.

Where Are The Best Bluebells On The Island? asks Ventnor Blog

If you’re in a particularly urban area, don’t think that means there isn’t local wildlife to feature.  Are there local parks or community gardens?  Is there an abundance of pets, like the large population of cats in Moseley, Birmingham that spawned Meowseley.com?  Or a mad guard-dog like Digbeth is Good’s Guardoggy?

Digbeth is God's Guardoggy

And it’s not as if the wildlife needs to be alive, in the strictest sense.  Something tells me the mole Karen Strunks found in Wake Green Park is likely to do any serious damage to the estate’s gardens.  In fact, I think most of the animals featured on the Digbeth is Good Faunography Trail map of Digbeth animal life were either sculpted or painted.

Mole found in Wake Green Park!

So keep your camera on you and a keen eye out for colourful blossoms, feathered friends and cold noses to get some lovely content for your site that will really put a smile on your readers’ faces!

Nicky is the Communications Manager at Talk About Local – recruiting, training and working with IT trainers and active citizens across the UK to help them create and develop simple yet effective community websites and online profiles. Nicky is currently overseeing Talk About Local's Networking for Work project, helping jobseekers to take control of their online profiles and look their best online. Nicky managed the popular Birmingham hyperlocal website Digbeth is Good since it began in May 2008 until moving to Cardiff in December 2011, where she helps organise regular Canton Social Media Surgeries. Nicky is interested in ways of using storytelling, game-playing and events within communities to tell their stories and effect positive change.

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