• BGS Hosted Metadata
  •   Search
  •   Map
  •  Sign in

Flower-insect timed count data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, 2017-2021

This dataset contains information on the location of the count, some environmental variables, and the number of insects of each type counted for the Flower-Insect Timed Count survey as part of the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). It covers the years 2017 to 2021 (note that 2017 was a pilot year and has less data than subsequent years). 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 across the UK, and also gathers data on pan-trapped insects (see separate dataset). In 2017-2020 the 1 km square survey took place in England, Scotland and Wales only; from 2021 the survey has full UK coverage, but with limited data from Northern Ireland in 2021 which was a pilot year for that country. UK PoMS is coordinated by UKCEH, with involvement from the following partners: Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology, Buglife, Hymettus, Natural History Museum, the University of Reading and University of Leeds, and working with recording schemes and societies. UKPoMS is advised and supported by a Steering Group, involving UKCEH, JNCC, DAERA, Defra, NatureScot, Welsh Government, All-Ireland Pollinators Plan, and SASA. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca

Simple

Date (Publication)
2024-07-25
Citation identifier
https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca
Citation identifier
doi: / 10.5285/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca
Other citation details

UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (2024). Flower-insect timed count data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, 2017-2021. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca

Point of contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme

poms@ceh.ac.uk

Author
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme

poms@ceh.ac.uk

Point of contact
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Publisher
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

Owner
Bumblebee Conservation Trust

enquiries@bumblebeeconservation.org

Owner
Butterfly Conservation

info@butterfly-conservation.org

Owner
British Trust for Ornithology

info@bto.org

Owner

Hymettus

paulatarachne@aol.com

Owner
Natural History Museum

feedback@nhm.ac.uk

Owner
University of Reading

EMAIL NOT PROVIDED

Owner
University of Leeds

EMAIL NOT PROVIDED

Owner
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

defra.helpline@defra.gsi.gov.uk

Owner
Welsh Government

customerhelp@gov.wales

Owner
Scottish Government

ceu@gov.scot

Owner
Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs

daera.helpline@daera-ni.gov.uk

Owner
Joint Nature Conservation Committee

data@jncc.gov.uk

Owner

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

  • Environmental Monitoring Facilities

GEMET - Concepts, version 4.1.3

  • citizen science
  • environmental monitoring
  • insect
Keywords
  • Pollinators
Access constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints
This resource is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints

The following acknowledgement is required for use of this dataset: The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) is a partnership funded jointly by UKCEH and JNCC (through funding from Defra, Scottish Government, Welsh Government, and DAERA). UKCEH’s contribution is funded by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. Between 2017 and 2021, PoMS was funded by UKCEH and Defra (England), Welsh Government, Scottish Government, DAERA (Northern Ireland), and JNCC. PoMS is indebted to the many volunteers who carry out surveys and contribute data to the scheme.

Use constraints
Other restrictions
Other constraints

If you reuse this data, you should cite: UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (2024). Flower-insect timed count data from the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme, 2017-2021. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca

Spatial representation type
Text, table
Distance
1000  urn:ogc:def:uom:EPSG::9001
Language
English
Character set
UTF8
Topic category
  • Biota
  • Environment
Begin date
2017-01-01
End date
2021-12-31
N
S
E
W
thumbnail




Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
Name Version

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Distributor contact
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role

NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Distributor
OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/data/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca

Download the data

OnLine resource
Protocol Linkage Name
https://data-package.ceh.ac.uk/sd/761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca.zip

Supporting information

Hierarchy level
Dataset
Other

dataset

Conformance result

Title

Commission Regulation (EU) No 1089/2010 of 23 November 2010 implementing Directive 2007/2/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards interoperability of spatial data sets and services

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement

Public FIT Counts are carried out at locations and dates chosen by the participants, at any time when weather conditions are suitable between 1 April and 30 September each year. A set of fourteen target flower types is provided, but participants are free to choose a different flower if a target species is not available. Guidance is provided to participants on how to select a suitable location and position a quadrat, and on how to identify the insect group categories when counting visiting insects. One km square FIT Counts follow the same methodology for the ten-minute count, but take place in up to 95 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.

Metadata

File identifier
761cee06-cb94-476e-bb62-69ae634aa5ca XML
Metadata language
English
Character set
8859 Part 1
Hierarchy level
Dataset
Hierarchy level name

dataset

Date stamp
2025-11-13T16:23:12
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version

2.3

Metadata author
Organisation name Individual name Electronic mail address Role
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre

info@eidc.ac.uk

Point of contact
 
 

Overviews

Spatial extent

thumbnail

Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0

Environmental Monitoring Facilities


Provided by

logo

Share on social sites

Access to the catalogue
Read here the full details and access to the data.




  •   About
  •   Github
  •