We hope that you enjoy taking part in one or both of the PoMS surveys (FIT Counts and 1km square surveys). There are a number of other pollinator survey and recording projects that you may also be interested in, many organised by PoMS partners.
Recording bees and wasps
For the PoMS FIT Counts we ask you to count bees into three groups (honeybees, bumblebees and solitary bees). But there are around 275 species of bee in Britain, so there is lots of scope for taking your interest further and getting to know some of the individual species. And once you can identify a few species you can send in records to contribute to the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society (BWARS), who collate all the national records for these insects and share the data with PoMS for research purposes (e.g. the recent paper on losses of pollinating insects). The BWARS website has lots of information on identification guides and how to get involved with recording bees (and wasps, also pollinators!). Bees and wasps can be tricky to identify, and for help with identification there is a very active BWARS Facebook group. Once identified, you can add your records to iRecord or send them direct to BWARS.
For Bumblebees, the Bumblebee Conservation Trust (BBCT, a PoMS partner organisation) has lots of information, including identification guides, and also runs the "BeeWalk" surveys. These involve walking a regular route once a month and recording all the bumblebees you see. This provides another strand of data on pollinators that can be used to monitor changes. For more information on this and other surveys go to the link below:
- Find out more: So you’ve seen a bee, what happens next?
Recording hoverflies and other flies
The Hoverfly Recording Scheme (HRS) collates records for hoverflies in a similar way to BWARS for the bees, and also shares data for research. HRS also has an active Facebook group that offers lot of help with identifications. Records can be submitted via the Facebook group, via spreadsheets or via iRecord.
For information on the very wide range of fly families and species in addition to hoverflies, and a list of all the other recording schemes for flies, go to the Dipterists Forum website and explore the links there (see also Dipterists Forum on Twitter and Facebook).
- Find out more: Dipterists Forum website
Recording butterflies and moths
Butterfly recording is coordinated by Butterfly Conservation and their network of local branches. Lots of identification guidance help is available on their website, and many local groups are active on Twitter and/or Facebook etc. Records can be sent in via iRecord (including the iRecord Butterflies app) or direct to the branches.
Moth records are collated by a network of county moth recorders, who feed records in to the National Moth Recording Scheme, managed by Butterfly Conservation. As with the butterflies, there are local moth groups in most counties or regions. Some counties make use of iRecord, but contact your county moth recorder to check how they wish to receive records.
Butterfly Conservation is a partner in PoMS.
- Find out more: Butterfly Conservation website
Recording other pollinators
Many of the other insect groups have their own recording schemes, see the list from the link below.
- Find out more: national recording schemes and societies (Biological Records Centre list)
For more about wildlife recording in general, see "Getting started" from the Biological Records Centre within UKCEH.
Recording plants
Pollinators need plants! There are many ways to get involved with recording plants, including structured surveys such as the National Plant Monitoring Scheme, which has similar aims to PoMS (and in England and Scotland the PoMS 1km squares are co-located with the NPMS squares). Explore the links below to find out more, and see also this helpful BSBI guide to getting started with plant identification.
Find out more:
- National Plant Monitoring Scheme
- Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland
- Plantlife (including the "Every Flower Counts" garden lawn survey)
