Take part

Join in our survey and learn all about local air quality

 

Please show care and respect to our environment.

Lichens may have lived there for many years.

Take part in the OPAL air survey and find out about air quality near you.

Everybody can get involved - all ages and abilities. You'll learn new skills and help our scientists answer important questions about the impacts of air quality across England.

How to join in

To take part, all you need is an air survey workbook and field guide. We have distributed thousands of these to schools and groups across the country. Don't worry if you haven't received a pack, as everything you need can also be downloaded from this page.

We highly recommend that you print these documents in colour - especially the field guide which contains an illustrated lichen identifier.

The OPAL air survey consists of two separate activities. The first records lichens on trees and the second looks for tar spot on sycamore leaves. Each activity should take no more than 60 minutes once familiar with the guides.

Submitting your results

Once you've completed the survey, it is important to enter your results on the OPAL website. It doesn't matter if you haven't found many lichens or tar spots, your findings are still extremely useful to us. If you wish, you can opt to submit the results for one activity only.

After entering your results, you'll instantly be able to view your contribution on our interactive results map. You can also compare your results with others across the country.