UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme

Thanks for doing that John, much appreciated

A Jersey Tiger moth (Euphlagia quadripunctaria) feeding on a purple scabious flower. Annotations around the moth read: "Wingspan range: 52-65mm. Jet black wings streaked with white tiger stripes. In flight it reveals dramatic red-orange hindwing flashes." Photo credit Luigi Sebastian

Be on the lookout for Tigers! 🐯

The Jersey Tiger appears to be doing well in this year's #BigButterflyCount, with citizen scientists already having recorded 5,300 of these beautiful insects compared to a total of 3,496 for the whole of last summer’s Count.

Map of UK and Ireland illustrating broad habitats in the UK and Northern Ireland as classified by the UKCEH Land Cover Map

Broad habitats from the UKCEH Land Cover Map for an area around Norwich in England

Broad habitats from the UKCEH Land Cover Map for an area more zoomed in around Norwich in England

NEW! The latest UKCEH Land Cover Map, describing the UK land surface in 2024, is now available 🏞️ 🌳

See what broad habitats—ranging from broadleaved woodland and arable land to freshwater and urban areas— there are and where in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

#LandCover #LCM

🧵🧪 1/

For full details of the science behind the RHS review see the paper by @andyentomologist.bsky.social et al. bsky.app/profile/andy...

RHS Scientists reveal new Plants for Pollinators <p paraeid="{daec1255-0ffe-4986-8fec-1703aba0a51a}{94}" paraid="1969349820">The expanded 2025 list now includes over 10,000 plants, with evidence-based plant choices to benefit all kinds of pollinator...

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...

The latest JNCC newsletter features a wide range of research and conservation, and thanks for including PoMS - great to partner with JNCC and be part of #TogetherForNature @ukceh.bsky.social

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 few spaces have become available on the 'Bee and butterfly guided walk' at #Mumbles 🦋🐝

Fri 1 August 10.00am – 12.00pm and 1.00pm – 3.00pm

Meeting point: outside Forte's, Mumbles Road, Mumbles, #Swansea SA3 4JT
What3words ///fields.sobered.sharpens

👉Booking required: www.trybooking.com/uk/EWZL

Nadine has identified this as common valerian, Valeriana officinalis. A good pollinator plant with scented flowers! Thanks for checking @johnnwells.bsky.social

#WaspOfferings - they work.

Top marks @nationaltrust.org.uk

Help us BETTER undertsand what #WaspOffering to give: put out a plate of cooked ham along side the jar of jam... which do they prefer?
And submit your data here!
#HamOrJam #WaspPicnicSurvey
tinyurl.com/HamOrJam

Hi John, we *think* it is Marsh Valerian, but awaiting confirmation from Nadine who will be able to say for certain!

A Common Blue butterfly is perched on heather against a pink background. Text overlay reads "Get out for the count" with Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count logo above it. In the bottom right corner, the text reads 'exclusive media partner' with BBC Countryfile Magazine logo. Photo credit Matt Berry

The Big Butterfly Count 2025 is here and butterflies need our help 🦋🚨

This isn't just a survey, it's a rescue mission, and we need everyone to get involved.

No lab coats. No science degrees. Just 15 minutes of your time. ⏱️

Get out for the count 👉 bigbutterflycount.org

Want to help shape a more sustainable food system?

Take our 20-minute survey and share your opinion on pollinator-friendly products.

Your voice matters – support the bees and support science!

🔗 agreconlab.limesurvey.net/328536?lang=en

#BeesNeedsWeek

For #BeesNeedsWeek2025, we delve into our Counting the Earth archives to learn more about planting for pollinators, and how citizen science is enhancing what we know about these vital insects...

🎧 Listen here: audioboom.com/posts/851752...

#ThrowbackThursday #BeesNeeds @pomscheme.bsky.social

We even had a few Silver-washed Fritillaries visiting the buddleja 😊 @savebutterflies.bsky.social 3/3

The RHS team are using FIT Counts to help inform the evidence base for their Plants for Pollinators lists. Find out more about the project here www.rhs.org.uk/science/rese... and in the latest @pomscheme.bsky.social annual report 2/3

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

🐝 Want to help pollinators? Here are some easy actions:

🌸 Grow nectar-rich flowers
🌿 Let patches grow wild
✂️ Mow less
🛑 Leave insect nests alone
🚫 Avoid pesticides
📲 Count pollinators for @pomscheme.bsky.social

Small changes = big impact. #BeesNeeds #Pollinators

www.gov.uk/government/p...

A Meadow Brown butterfly resting on a purple-y blue hydrangea. Text overlay reads '2 days to go' with Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count logo

The Meadow Brown was the second most counted butterfly in last year’s #BigButterflyCount with 177,844 sightings 🦋👀

You don't have to be an expert to help butterflies and moths! Get ready to count from this Friday 18 July to Sunday 10 August.

📷: Miles Attenborough

Jobs Join us!If you are passionate about the environment, conservation and tackling biodiversity loss you couldn’t be in a better place!Butterfly Conservation is committed to delivering the biggest possibl...

Job Opportunity: Peatland Project Officer. An opportunity to help reverse the decline of some of the UK's rarest butterflies like Large Heath and Dark-bordered Beauty by restoring their habitats. Full time, fixed-term contract for 2 years 7 months). Closing 29 July butterfly-conservation.org/jobs

Visitors to the displays under the amazing structure of The Hive at Kew Gardens

A FIT Count in progress targeting knapweed in the wild flower meadow next to The Hive

Lots of #pollinator discussion and a chance for visitors to meet some insects up close at today's @kewgardens.bsky.social event for #BeesNeedsWeek with colleagues from Defra and @uniofreading.bsky.social #BeesNeedsWeek2025

We already know that climate change, habitat loss and pesticides are contributing to the decline of pollinators.

But a wave of new threats is adding further pressure! Listen to Professor Simon Potts explain what is posing serious new risks.

#BeesNeedsWeek

🔗 rdg.ac/3SLwuic

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/...

Solitary Bee Identification Workshop at Grantown-on-Spey in Highland on Thurs 7th Aug 2025. #solitarybees #hymenoptera

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

Lots of #InsectWeek activities at the @royentsoc.bsky.social garden at Stratford Cross, East London today! Can you spot any of the #PoMS target flowers for a #FITcount?

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

Solitary bees🐝. Clockwise from TL: Clarke’s mining-bee (Andrena clarkella), Davies Colletes (Colletes daviesanus), Marsham’s nomad cuckoo bee (Nomada marshamella), Smeathman’s furrow-bee (Lasioglossum smeathmanella), Red mason bee (Osmia bicornis), Chocolate mining-bee (Andrena scotica), Orange-tailed mining-bee (Andrena haemorrhoa), Northern sallow mining-bee (Andrena ruficrus) & In middle: Willughby’s leaf-cutter bee (Megachile willughbiella)🐝

Basking bumblebee queens 🐝: Clockwise from Top-left: Early bumblebee (Bombus pratorum), Tree bumblebee (Bombus hypnorum), Red-tailed bumblebee (Bombus lapidarius) & Buff-tailed bumblebee (Bombus terrestris).

Davie’s Colletes (Colletes davisanus)- females of this mid-summer species generally collect pollen from flowers of the daisy family.

Domestic honeybees🐝 (Apis mellifera). Highly efficient collectors of nectar & pollen to make honey. By mid summer a large hive can number up to 70,000 workers which will go out to harvest pollen and nectar from all flowers in a wide radius around their hive. They enzymatically convert the nectar to honey which they horde for winter. High numbers of honeybees can have a negative impact on populations of small solitary bees & other pollinators which can’t travel as far and wide for food as honeybees.

It’s #insectweek! 🐝 Bees are among our most important & best-loved #pollinators. We have ~280 species in the UK including the honeybee & bumblebees which generally have a queen & workers, but the vast majority are solitary bees where females collect pollen & nectar to provision their own nests 🌸🐝

Entomology courses - Royal Entomological Society Interested in studying Entomology? We have compiled a list of institutions in the UK and in Ireland offering full and part time entomologically-related courses, such as undergraduate, postgraduate…

Are you passionate about #InsectScience and looking to build a career in the field? You're in luck!

We've got a list of UK and Ireland institutions offering entomological courses. Explore your options today 🔽

buff.ly/RFnYfHB

📸 Green bottle fly Lucilia sp. (c) Flynn Thaitanunde-Lobb