We would like you to take part in Pollinator FIT (Flower-Insect Timed) Counts five times over the coming week (weather-permitting) and to submit your records on the project website.
While you are doing this, please look and listen to the natural world around you and take note of the good things in nature. Thank you!
[[{"fid":"14588","view_mode":"default","fields":{"format":"default","alignment":"right","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"people doing a pollinator count","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"default","alignment":"right","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":"people doing a pollinator count","field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"attributes":{"alt":"people doing a pollinator count","style":"float: right;","class":"media-element file-default media-wysiwyg-align-right","data-delta":"1"}}]]The Pollinator FIT (Flower-Insect Timed) Counts is a citizen science project aiming to understand how pollinator populations are changing across Great Britain. You can watch an introductory video.
Before taking part
Before taking part you will need to review the instructions and identification guides, and download the recording forms that are available on the Pollinator FIT Counts website.
Taking part in the citizen science
Please try to take part in the pollinator FIT counts five times over the coming eight days (at least once per day on five days), but you can take part more frequently if you would like.
- Choose a time when the weather is warm, not too windy and (preferably) sunny.
- Go somewhere with flowers growing (such as a garden or yard, a park or the countryside) and spend 10 minutes watching a patch of flowers (a 50 x 50cm patch of one type of flower).
- You will need to identify and count the different types of insects visiting the flowers and record these on the reporting form. Full instructions are on the project website.
- Once you have completed a 10-minute count, please submit the records on the project page.
- You can repeat the activity in the same place each time or you can choose to do it in different places at different times.
Noticing nature
As you conduct your insect counts, when the opportunity arises, try to look and listen to the natural world around you.
- Take note of the good things in nature – the things you see, hear or touch, nature’s beauty, the emotions you feel, and reflect on what they mean to you.
- These can be the beauty of small things at any one moment or wider aspects that arise from attending to the diversity and wonder of the natural world around you.
- For example, it could be as seemingly trivial as noticing the song of a robin or movement of a tree in the breeze.
- Note: you should ensure that undertaking the noticing nature activity does not prevent you from counting ALL insects that visit the flowers in your patch during the 10 minute period.
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Thank you
We will send you a daily reminder email to ask if you’ve been able to take part and for you to enter the 3 good things you noticed in nature.
Thank you for taking part so that together we can discover more about how engaging with nature affects our wellbeing!
Stay safe
- As a volunteer, you are responsible for your own health and safety and you are under no obligation to participate or continue with these outdoors activities.
- Never undertake any activity if you have concerns about your own or others’ health and safety. If you have any such concerns, you should stop the activity.
- Follow the latest Covid-19 government guidelines on outdoors activity in your area.
- If you are away from your home, it is advisable to carry a fully charged mobile phone in case of an emergency.
- When selecting a location for your activity, please keep to areas that you have permission to access, or that are publicly accessible.
- Consider any particular risks associated with your individual site and whether your individual circumstances and medical conditions expose you to particular risks.
- Think about and take action on what precautions are needed to minimise risks, including wearing appropriate footwear and protection from the sun.
- The researchers are not liable for any injuries you might sustain when undertaking the nature-based activities that form part of this project. If you injure yourself and your condition is too serious to wait until you can see your GP, you can call the NHS on 111. If your medical condition is an emergency, then you should call 999.
The Pollinator FIT Counts is run by the Pollinator Monitoring and Research Partnership.
Nature Up Close & Personal: A Wellbeing Experiment is run by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, University of Derby and British Science Association, and is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council.