Avon Wildlife Trust were delighted to partner with garden designer, Darren Gillingham, on his PlantWild: Sanctuary for Pollinators Garden at the first ever Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) Badminton Flower Show. We were there to survey the different insects who were using the pollinator friendly plants in Darren’s garden. Our wonderful volunteer, Katherine Cockle, wrote this blog to share her experience and hopefully encourage others to carry out this simple survey in their gardens! 

As I sit to write this, I’m so excited to share the day with you. As someone who has never been to a RHS Flower Show or carried out a Flight-Insect-Transect count (FIT count) survey before, there was a lot of firsts for the day. I decided to write this blog to share how I got this opportunity and why the surveys we did there were so important. 

I’m a member of the Avon Wildlife Trust and signed up to the volunteer newsletter, so I get their regular emails with opportunities to get involved hands on with their work. As a scientist I relish the opportunity to learn something new, learn more about the world around me and help the nature that I love. My job in the civil service gives me the wonderful opportunity to spend five days a year volunteering in my local community as a unique form of societal contribution, personal development and networking. This event did not disappoint! 

The volunteering team were great and sent through all the registration, travel and survey details ahead of the event, so I found where I needed to be and still had time to have a look round before the public were let in. The site was stunning and there were stalls and displays for all tastes and interests. The aroma of fresh coffee and breakfast goodies was also very inviting!  

The data I was about to collect was being submitted as part of the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme and Avon Wildlife Trust’s Pollinator Pathways project, a chance to contribute to robust data to inform decision making, guidance and ultimately supporting biodiversity and UK pollinators, a subject close to my heart.  

When I arrived, I met with Darren Gillingham the designer of the Sanctuary for Pollinators pocket garden, where I’d be surveying. I was given a tour of the garden itself, which ended up winning an RHS Gold Medal, as well as the People’s Choice award.  

The pictures don’t do it justice, but the beautiful arrangement of tall, slender white bee hotels, striking charcoal black charred deadwood (which the bees loved drilling into because of the carbon!) and the pinks, purples and whites of the stunning flowers made it extremely eye catching. In the centre was a circular arrangement of gravel and bricks filled with water – not a pond, as I later found out, but a drinking source for all the flying visitors with a rough surface so they don’t fall in – genius! 

All the native plants are pollinator friendly and drought-tolerant that were chosen for their low-maintenance, nature friendly characteristics. They are all featured in the RHS Plants for Pollinators list.  

So, what did the FIT count involve? I was joined by Darren and Ben from Avon Wildlife Trust and together we got counting! I carried out four 10-minute surveys where I selected a specific grouping of flowers and counted the number of insects that visited the flowers within those 10 minutes. Don’t worry – I’m not an entomologist but I only needed to identify them to a grouping level such as bumblebee, honeybee, butterfly etc. and there was a helpful guide for moments I was unsure. It couldn’t have been easier, and anyone can record their results through the scheme. What a buzz of activity I observed, it was fantastic, and being located close to the lake meant there were flashes of metallic blues and greens from the dragonflies and damselflies that were drawn to the garden as well.  

So, to summarise, a huge thanks to my employer for giving me the time to get involved and thank you to Avon Wildlife Trust and RHS for allowing me to spend an energising, informative and socially significant day in the sun contributing to a very worthy cause! 

If you’d like to learn how to carry out FIT counts in your own garden, head to  www.ukpoms.org.uk/fit-counts.