DOI: 10.5285/699f2172-88c1-44b7-a8f5-a22296a9e2cb
title: Flower-Insect Timed Count data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, 2017-2022

description: This dataset contains information on the location of the count, some environmental variables, and the number of insects of each type counted for the Flower-Insect Timed Count survey as part of the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). It covers the years 2017 to 2022 (note that 2017 was a pilot year and has less data than subsequent years).

The “public” FIT Count asks volunteer citizen scientists to count the number of insects, identified into broad taxon groups, seen landing on the flowers of a particular target plant within a 50 cm × 50 cm quadrat during a period of ten minutes.

The “1 km square” FIT Count uses the same methodology but is carried out by PoMS volunteers and staff as part of the PoMS 1 km square survey, which takes place within a randomly allocated set of 1 km squares across the UK, and also gathers data on pan-trapped insects (see separate dataset). In 2017-2020 the 1 km square survey took place in England, Scotland and Wales only; from 2021 the survey has full UK coverage, but with limited data from Northern Ireland in 2021 which was a pilot year for that country.

UK PoMS is co-ordinated by UKCEH, with the following delivery partners up to 2022: the Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology, Hymettus, Natural History Museum, the University of Reading and University of Leeds.

PoMS Steering Group members in 2022 were JNCC, DAERA, Defra, NatureScot, Welsh Government, All-Ireland Pollinators Plan, Natural England, Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture, Buglife and National Biodiversity Network.
description: Public FIT Counts are carried out at locations and dates chosen by the participants, at any time when weather conditions are suitable between 1 April and 30 September each year. A set of fourteen target flower types is provided, but participants are free to choose a different flower if a target species is not available. Guidance is provided to participants on how to select a suitable location and position a quadrat, and on how to identify the insect group categories when counting visiting insects.

One km square FIT Counts follow the same methodology for the ten-minute count, but take place in up to 95 1 km squares, during four visits each summer, aiming for one visit in each month from May to August. There will be gaps in the data where a square cannot be visited during a particular year or month.

Data is entered using online forms that promote consistency in data formats. QA checks are carried out on any photos provided of the target flowers, and these are corrected where the original identification is not correct. Participants can optionally add photos to show examples of the insect groups that they have seen and counted, although these photos should not be taken during the count itself (so as to avoid disturbing visiting insects) so cannot be corrected in the same way. The data is then passed through a QA process in R (code available in the metadata) to detect and resolve any errors in the dataset, or highlight where the methodology was not followed.

Martin Harvey is the PoMS co-ordinator at UKCEH and the first point of contact for queries via the poms@ceh.ac.uk email. Claire Carvell is the project manager for PoMS, also based at UKCEH Wallingford and responsible for strategic direction, overseeing delivery of the surveys, data management and reporting, and liaising with JNCC and other partners. Nadine Mitschunas leads the field team with Chris Andrews and Angus Garbutt, and Francesca Mancini leads on statistical analysis of PoMS data, with Robin Hutchinson working on data management and communications. Other UKCEH team members are Nick Isaac, Lucy Ridding, Marc Botham and Helen Roy, and our partners are represented by Richard Comont (BCT), Richard Fox and Megan Lowe (BC), Dawn Balmer and Rob Jaques (BC), Paul Lee and Rowan Edwards (Hymettus), Mike Garratt and Simon Potts (Reading University), Bill Kunin (Leeds University) and Alfried Vogler (Natural History Museum).