Flower-insect timed count data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, 2017-2020 version 2
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This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
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 in England, Scotland and Wales, and also gathers data on pan-trapped insects (see separate dataset).
The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme is a partnership between the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology, Hymettus, Natural History Museum, University of Reading and University of Leeds, working with the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, wider stakeholders and volunteer networks. PoMS is jointly funded by Defra, the Welsh and Scottish Governments, JNCC and project partners.
Format
Comma-separated values (CSV)
Spatial information
Temporal information
Provenance & quality
One km square FIT Counts follow the same methodology for the ten-minute count, but take place in up to 75 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.
Licensing and constraints
This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
The following acknowledgement is required for use of this dataset: The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) is funded by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra, England), Welsh Government, Scottish Government, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA, Northern Ireland), Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), and through a research partnership agreement between Defra, Natural England and the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) number ECM_54322, which builds upon work supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. PoMS is indebted to the many volunteers who carry out surveys and contribute data to the scheme.
Related
This dataset is included in the following collections
Supplemental information
Correspondence/contact details
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
Author
Other contacts
Additional metadata
Welsh Government
Scottish Government
Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA, Northern Ireland)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/R016429/1