Today’s weather looking very promising for lunchtime #FITcounts at @pomscheme.bsky.social HQ, having been just below thresholds so far this week 🤞☀️🐝

As PoMS approaches its tenth year of monitoring #pollinators it is awesome to see what has been achieved by @ukbms.bsky.social, its partners and many, many volunteers over the last 50 years, and also sobering to see how many species have declined in that time

14 degrees, clear blue sky, glorious Dandelions on the lawn = perfect conditions for my first #FITcount of 2026 😊 @pomscheme.bsky.social

Welcome to the new season for #pollinator FIT Counts! Our latest e-news was sent out this morning - read it here mailchi.mp/7e658beeba40... and subscribe at ukpoms.org.uk/subscribe As soon as the weather is warm enough we hope that you will enjoy watching and counting insects on flowers with us.

As well as the FIT Count survey, we run a more systematic survey using insect traps in a set of 1 km squares across the UK. If you live near one of the red squares on the map and are interested in taking part please contact us for more details ukpoms.org.uk/one-km-squar...

There's less than a month until the start of the 2026 FIT Count season on 1 April! The Flower-Insect Timed Count survey asks you to spend 10 minutes counting all insects that land on a patch of flowers, to help monitor abundance of #pollinators. 🪰🦋🌻🪲🐝 More info at ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts

A chance to learn more about production of this fabulous new guide to #FliesofBritainandIreland with Steven Falk 👏🪰😊@naturebureau.bsky.social www.nhbs.com/blog/author-...

Happy New Year from the PoMS team! Incase you missed our December newsletter, find it here including: 📊 updates on 2025 surveys 🌼 FIT Count projects (now is the perfect time to sign up for 2026) 🪰🐝🐞 links to a great series of past & upcoming #pollinator themed webinars! mailchi.mp/39d2be14e1f2...

Don’t miss the brilliant John Redhead today at #ORFC2026 talking about future crops and @ukceh.bsky.social rice trials from the #agzeroplus programme. Great to hear conference manager Hester van Hensbergen looking forward to this on R4 #FarmingToday ⬇️

Horizon scanning is a successful, low-cost way to predict high risk invasive non-native species, a UKCEH-led study shows. 31 of 92 species identified in 2013 as a potential threat had reached GB by 2023, with 9 established. Regular horizon scanning can guide action & improve biosecurity. 🧪 1/

Exciting NEW PhD just advertised, using @pomscheme.bsky.social data - full details here! ⬇️🐝🪰🐞

The Springline Project - a unique collaboration between ecologists, artists and local communities to create this stunning 10-metre mural that we revealed to a packed audience in Cholsey on Friday! Thank you to everyone who made this happen #MendtheGap @annadillon.bsky.social @ukceh.bsky.social

What an amazing legacy from the Cholsey Springline project! Glad to have been there for the unveiling and to talk to people about Berkshire #moths from the project's events. Huge congratulations to @clairecarvell.bsky.social @annadillon.bsky.social + Becky, Vicky & everyone else who made it happen

Our analysis identifies risks at country scale, for finer spatial analysis (e.g. to infer local #biodiversity impacts) more resolved crops and pesticides usage data are needed. Check out the Land Cover plus: Fertilisers and Pesticides map www.ceh.ac.uk/data/ukceh-l... for a fine resolution example.

Mapping spatial and temporal patterns of pesticide risk to #pollinators and other #inverts across England - I’ve enjoyed working on this important new resource for research into past changes and future risks from @francescamancini.bsky.social and @ukceh.bsky.social 👏 🐝👇

Great opportunity to present @pomscheme.bsky.social collaborative research with @sangerinstitute.bsky.social at #BGEconnects. DNA-based transformation will only be possible with continued national-scale sampling, curated archives, data infrastructure and collaboration with taxonomists.

NEWS:🌾 First rice trials in the UK! UKCEH scientists are growing cold-hardy rice on rewetted peat in the Cambridgeshire Fens. Nine varieties, four mini paddies and a big question: can rice thrive in UK conditions? buff.ly/wYnH1DE 🧪 🧵 1/

The sun is shining in South Oxfordshire, perfect weather for FIT Counts on the Ivy covering our hedgerows! Female Ivy bees busy collecting pollen, not many other insects today. FIT in 😉your last counts before the @pomscheme.bsky.social survey ends on 30 Sept 🐝

We're leading a review of long-term UK terrestrial & freshwater monitoring for NERC. This will help identify priorities for an adaptable & flexible UK environmental monitoring network for the future Take part via our survey before 9am Mon 29 Sep: app.onlinesurveys.jisc.ac.uk/s/ceh-online... 🧵🧪1/

Wonderful to see the sustained effort in FIT Counts coming into @pomscheme.bsky.social for 2025! Running the survey throughout the season will allow us to look at insect responses to shifts in weather patterns and flowering times, as the dataset builds. Please keep the counts coming in 👏🐝🪰🐞

Target flowers for FIT Counts at the moment include heathers, Ivy, Buddleia & thistles, but if you don't have any of those nearby it's fine to use other flowers - see the FIT Count guides at ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts and give it a try over the bank holiday 👍

The latest PoMS e-news went out yesterday, with updates on FIT Counts in 2025; news of a new UK butterfly; research on plants for pollinators; PoMS local projects; & some great forthcoming events. If you missed it you can read it at mailchi.mp/e73193cb8054... & subscribe at ukpoms.org.uk/subscribe

The latest UK Hydrological Outlook forecasts river flows and groundwater levels for August to October. Though recent rainfall helped ease drought pressures in some parts of the country, river flows elsewhere remain unusually low. 📽️ Hear from UKCEH hydrologist @wilsonchan.bsky.social 🧪 1/

The theme for yesterday's #WildFlowerHour was #PollinatorPals - check the tag for some great examples of pollinators in action, from @wildflowerhour.bsky.social, and if you've enjoyed watching pollinators have a go at counting them with a PoMS FIT Count ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts

NEW: Your PoMS Insights - if you sent in a FIT Count in 2024-25 you may have had an email from us with feedback on how your results compare to the overall totals, and to thank you for your participation - and hopefully encourage you to keep adding new counts! More info: ukpoms.org.uk/news/insights

Scientists from the Royal Horticultural Society have reviewed and updated the RHS "Plants for Pollinators" list, and volunteers at RHS gardens are using PoMS FIT Counts to gather further data on insects visiting flowers www.rhs.org.uk/science/arti...

Lovely lunchtime #FITcount on knapweed outside the office at @ukceh.bsky.social Wallingford. Good to see a brown argus butterfly land in my quadrat too! The wildflower diversity in our meadow has really held well despite the lack of rain. @pomscheme.bsky.social

A great day at RHS Garden Rosemoor discovering #pollinators with RHS staff and volunteers. The rain held off for two fun #FITcount sessions, Scabious and Fennel buzzing with insects in the Cottage Garden! #BeesNeedsWeek2025

Looking forward to joining colleagues at @rbgkew.bsky.social tomorrow for #BeesNeedsWeek2025 - find out about #bees & other #pollinators + have a go at a Flower-Insect Timed Count to help monitor what's happening #BeesNeedsWeek. See details on the Kew website at www.kew.org/kew-gardens/...

Thanks to everyone who came to see us in the @ukceh.bsky.social stand or #Biodiversity Bimble at #Groundswell. Lots of inspiring chat on insect monitoring within regenerative farming systems, plus a #FITCount on white clover in the showground 🐝😍☀️

Busiest ever #FITcount with 42 insects visiting this gorgeous Euphorbia seguieriana in my garden! Lovely to see so many tiny white-faced Hylaeus bees, ruby-tailed wasps and others, wasn’t sure what to do when a social wasp started preying on the small flies I had just counted @pomscheme.bsky.social

Last week we held a workshop at Oxford Island Nature Reserve on the shores of Lough Neagh with @daera-ni.gov.uk staff, volunteers, placement students and the All-Ireland #Pollinator Plan team discussing all things PoMS! Species rich meadows provided a great opportunity for #FITCounts too #Insectweek

The UK PoMS Annual Report 2024 is out now, celebrating the start of @royentsoc.bsky.social #InsectWeek! Huge thanks to all who have contributed. Read lots more in the thread below 👇 and find the full report here ukpoms.org.uk/reports

Colours in the garden are still so vibrant in this evenings light. Watching hummingbird hawk moths visit the Linaria. Was I the only one to miss this AI feature automatically coming into smartphone photos?!

The sun is shining for #FITcounts this weekend! On Sunday @pomscheme.bsky.social team enjoyed introducing families to the insect life on our community meadow, as part of The Springline Project @chilternsnl.bsky.social #MendtheGap We’d love to hear of other community events where you are 🐝☀️

Have you heard about the Field Recorder Days? Come and join us on one of these free fun days in London this summer! We've got events focusing on Beetles, Flies, Botany and Fungi in Kingston, Southwark and Bexley. 🔗 www.eventbrite.co.uk/cc/field-rec...

🌼🐝 On #WorldBeeDay we were delighted to host US pollinator ecologists & master gardeners to Wallingford to share experiences of citizen science monitoring The visitors run the Great Southeast Pollinator Census across several US states—great exchange with @pomscheme.bsky.social & UKCEH colleagues!

It was a great pleasure to host the wonderful #SoutheastPollinatorCensus team on #worldbeeday! After inspiring discussions at @ukceh.bsky.social we headed to local #allotments for a glimpse into the incredible work of Nadine blending her unique horticultural and wildlife gardening skills!

Happy #WorldBeeDay! Lots of great facts and links in this thread from @ukceh.bsky.social More to come on what the @pomscheme.bsky.social team are up to today 😊🐝

This patch of wild red clover was perfect for a relaxing #FITcount in the garden today @pomscheme.bsky.social I harvested small amounts of seed from a local meadow 3 years ago and finally the yellow rattle has helped clear the grasses to make way for more wildflowers

The @bbs-birds.bsky.social 2024 report is out now and shows drastic declines in many breeding bird populations. Huge thanks to volunteers who provided vital data for this report as it’s with your help we can monitor bird populations and help protect them. 🌍 🌐 See the report ➡️ www.bto.org/bbs-results

Claire Carvell @ukceh.bsky.social presents results of DNA barcoding through @pomscheme.bsky.social using BIOSCAN pipeline. High quality sequences that could largely be identified to species level obtained. Seasonal patterns in community composition found #UKDNAWG25 6/6