… originally written for the South East England Youth Nature Network blog by RSPB Project Officer, Katie Hargreaves.
Did you know that one out of every three mouthfuls of the food we eat is dependent on pollinating insects? This is just one of the reasons why we should all be concerned about the plight of bees, wasps, flies and other pollinators. In April, the Youth Nature Network took a trip to Canvey Wick nature reserve to learn about a surveying technique called FIT (Flower-Insect Timed) Counts with Buglife Community Warden, Jo. Citizen science projects like this help researchers gather vital data to inform conservation efforts.
The morning was chilly and overcast, so we spent some time practising our insect ID skills. Fortunately, when you’re carrying out a FIT Count you don’t need to be able to identify the insect down to species level – you just need to be able to put them into one of the following groups: bumblebees, Honeybees (Apis mellifera), solitary bees, wasps, hoverflies, other flies, butterflies & moths, beetles, small insects or ‘other’.
I say you ‘only’ need to be able to put them into one of these groups, but it actually turns out to be quite tricky! For example, many hoverflies have black and yellow stripes, so it’s easy to confuse them for wasps. Similarly, the Hairy-footed Flower Bee (Anthophora plumipes) looks like a bumblebee, but is actually a solitary bee. Confused? So were we to begin with, but after a little practise we were starting to get the hang of it!
After lunch the sun came out, so we were able to spot some insects flying around. We realised that with some groups it’s much easier to tell the difference when you see them in action, as opposed to looking at a picture. For example, hoverflies have an unmistakeable hovering motion, bees can take off vertically like a helicopter, and Honeybees tend to dangle their legs in flight. As with many nature ID skills, the key is to notice what’s around you and keep practising.
Once we felt confident with our ID skills, we had a go at carrying out our own surveys. FIT Counts can take place during any period of good weather between 1st April and 30th September, and it only takes ten minutes. The easiest way to record your findings is by using the app, which can be downloaded from ukpoms.org.uk/fit-count-app.
You need to mark out a 50×50 cm square over a patch of certain target flowers, set a timer for 10 minutes and then record how many of each pollinator group land on your flowers during this time. For full instructions on how to carry out your own survey visit the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS) website – ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts.
This picture shows us carrying out our ten-minute count – not a bad way to spend a sunny afternoon!
All images © Katie Hargreaves, RSPB