The new FIT Count season has arrived! From 1 April onwards, when weather is good, you can contribute Flower-Insect Timed Counts to the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme. Enjoy spending 10 minutes counting the insects that visit flowers - wherever you can find flowers, and as often as you wish from now until 30 September.

We're really looking forward to seeing the first counts come in, and don't want to dampen your enthusiasm! But please do wait for the right weather conditions - warm and dry, with temperature of at least 13°C if it is sunny, or at least 15°C if it is cloudy.

If you have contributed one or more FIT Counts during this year or last year you may have received one of the new "PoMS Insights" emails from us. These are intended to provide some additional feedback on how your results compare to the rest of the FIT Counts that are sent in, and to thank you for your participation - and hopefully encourage you to keep adding new counts!

The third PoMS annual report has now been published:

The Biological Recording Company hosted a pollinator-focused webinar on 1 April, presented by two experts that have links with PoMS: Dr Miranda Bane is a pollinator ecologist specialising in the interactions between plants, pollinators, and people, and also a member of the PoMS staff team in Scotland, as well as running pollinator projects and presented an overview of the FIT Count survey and how to take part.

Last month (23 February 2025) PoMS was invited to take part in the Citizen Science Showcase, focusing on the FIT Count surveys. Our webinar provides an introduction to the FIT Counts and how to take part in them, along with guidance on how to recognise the different insect groups that we ask you to count. 

The recording is now available via YouTube:

Inspired by the many community-based initiatives dedicated to nature recovery and peoples’ wellbeing, and especially those that have been in touch with UK PoMS over the past year, I have been reflecting on activities closer to home.

Our latest PoMS email newsletter went out on Friday 5 July, with updates on progress with FIT Counts and links to forthcoming events. You can read this newsletter (and all previous ones), and subscribe so that you don't miss any in future, by going to our newsletter page.

This Bees Needs Week, we've looked at the benefits to promoting FIT Counts for local groups. FIT Counts are a great tool to use when working with volunteers: They are accessible; they start a conversation about pollinators; and they are benefit your mental wellbeing. Check out the full article at CJS Online for more details!