The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS) launched FIT Counts (Flower-Insect Timed Counts) in the UK several years ago. At the time, I decided not to bother. This year, with the moth trap in my suburban garden not justifying the electricity to run it (other than to document the disastrous local decline in flying insect numbers this year), FIT Counts seemed much more attractive. For one thing, FIT COUNTS are a very low carbon way of recording - in good weather, spend ten minutes watching flowers and insects in your garden or local park, then upload the results via a mobile phone app or the website. I'm usually disappointed by big citizen science projects, which tend towards engagement rather than useful data, but the FIT Count methodology is geared towards long term monitoring which is desperately needed.
UK POMS has just sent all the recorders an end of year summary - short version: another record year for FIT Counts. My own effort is a sad four sessions, but I'm looking forward to the start of the FIT Count season (1st April - 30th September) and making a better effort next year. With 2024 virtually certain to be the warmest year ever and the first year to exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, this sort of data becomes ever more important, as does gathering it without getting in your car and driving off to get it. The two most important groups of pollinators, bees and flies are both vulnerable to climate change between these two major groups of pollinators, with flies seemingly being more at risk. Even 10 minutes standing watching your local insects can help. How hard can that be?
Critical thermal maxima differ between groups of insect pollinators and their foraging times: Implications for their responses to climate change. Journal of Melittology, (122), 2024.
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