Mobile game recruits Nekala residents to map clover to save endangered moth

Tamperelainen reports that a mobile nature game launched on June 15 invites Nekala residents to map woodland clover to support an endangered moth, known in Finnish as mäkihiilikoi. Hosted on the Crowdsorsa app, the game trains players to distinguish woodland clover from common red clover and to document likely sites with photos and locations that experts can verify.

The moth's caterpillar feeds on woodland clover and is easiest to spot in June and July when it spins the plant's leaves together. The game runs until the end of August. Anyone who finds woodland clover should leave the plants in place to encourage growth.

The initiative is part of the Innature project, coordinated by the University of Tampere and funded by Horizon Europe. The project is testing nature-based biodiversity solutions across five European cities. As part of this work, the city will establish new meadow areas in Nekala and Härmälänranta to bolster the moth's habitat.

Professor Helena Leino said earlier meadows near Mustametsä daycare and the Normal School have already supported the species. She welcomed continuing the work with the city, local residents and the Villi vyöhyke conservation association.

Similar Crowdsorsa projects have run elsewhere this summer, including a crowdsourced invasive-species campaign in Lieksa and a prize-backed Crowdsorsa drive in Imatra.