EXPERTS from across the country will descend on Museum Gardens this weekend for a 24-hour natural history hunt.

They will be attempting to log as many species of animals and plants as possible, as well as lead a series of events including a dawn chorus walk, a bat hunt, kestrel parties and making a bee hotel.

Members of the public will also get the chance to help safely trap, track and count the animals. Isla Gladstone, curator of natural sciences at the Yorkshire Museum, said: “This is a really exciting challenge and the first time we have ever tried to do something on this scale. We have experts coming from across the county to help us seek out and catalogue as many species as possible and we are sure we will find species which we didn’t know were living here.

“It is a great chance for people to come and get close to some of the animals and birds and learn something new about them.”

The public events will start on Friday with a series of kestrel parties all afternoon and the animal detecting will start at 9.30pm with special bat locating equipment.

For more details of activities and times, visit www.yorkshiremuseum.org.uk