Since Oct. 24, the historic castle garden of Slot Assumburg in Heemskerk has had a special new resident: a DIOPSIS insect camera. Amid the interest of enthusiastic volunteers from the Stichting Vrijwilligers Kasteeltuin Assumburg and Heemskerk alderman Ani Zalinyan, Chantal Huijbers and Peter Hoekstra explained the operation of the camera on behalf of Naturalis Biodiversity Center. Starting in the spring of 2025, the camera will be fully automated to monitor insects in the castle garden.
In the castle garden, much attention is already being paid to biodiversity. For example, there is a biodiversity trail and butterflies, bees and birds are considered when mowing. With the arrival of the insect camera, the dedicated volunteers can now also keep an eye on how the insect population is doing.
This new addition to the network of insect cameras in North Holland also gives scientists at Naturalis Biodiversity Center a great opportunity to learn more about the insect world in this region. The data collected will be combined with data from other cameras in North Holland to get a more complete picture of insect populations.
