Guest blog – From Wasps to Wildflower Nectar by Amanda Tuke

Amanda is a nature and environment writer and blogger based in the wilds of suburban south London. She writes mainly about suburban wildflowers, insects and birds on her blog.    Her nature writing has appeared in anthologies, on the London Wildlife Trust blog and in Devon Life Magazine.  She also blogs on www.freelancenaturewriter.com about her experience of becoming a freelance nature writer after ditching her day job. Twitter: @suburbanwilduk

From Wasps to Wildflower nectar –  How I became convinced we should all be taking part in citizen science nature projects for the benefit of British wildlife and our wellbeing.

A week ago I hung up these two traps, filled enticingly with flat warm lager. With a sensitivity to wasp stings, I’ve had an uneasy relationship with wasps, but this isn’t revenge. I’m one of fifty citizen scientists piloting the 2020 Big Wasp Survey, as adapted for Lockdown. Last weekend, following instructions, I made two plastic bottle wasp traps, added some lager and hung them in our small suburban London garden.

Citizen science usually means large data gathering projects in which information is collected by volunteers rather than professional scientists. These projects have spanned scientific disciplines from astrophysics to zoology. In the first international citizen science project Stardust@home in 2006, enthusiastic volunteers spotted interstellar dust impacts in photographs.  Closer to home, around half a million people took part this year in the forty-year-old RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch, arguably the most successful citizen science project in Britain.

Data collected by volunteers works really well for ecology, which is shorthand for the study of organisms and their relationship to each other and their environment. Little technical equipment is needed and you can collect valuable data without scientific training. It also helps that in ecological circles there’s a healthy blurring between professionals and amateurs, with a long history of professional scientists valuing the species and habitat expertise of amateur naturalists who really know their patches.  As Charles Elton the great UK ecologist put it in 1927, “Ecology is a new name for a very old subject. It simply means scientific natural history”.

From Al-Jahiz’ food chains to Darwin’s theory of evolution, Mendel’s genetics to Anning’s icthyosaurs, many significant breakthroughs in ecology were helped by naturalists collecting large amounts of data over many years. For modern ecologists under pressure to churn out research papers, large-scale long-term data collection can be a challenge unless, that is, you have an army of volunteers to draw on.

In the academic areas of urban ecology and conservation, citizen science is particularly valuable. It isn’t enough to know how our wildlife is faring in nature reserves. Greenspace Information for Greater London reports that just under a third of the city’s green space is in private gardens, where citizen scientists are perfectly placed for data gathering.

Taking part in a project may have its own rewards but will seeing your data disappear into cyberspace be enough to encourage you to do it again? Feeding back findings meaningfully to thousands of volunteers can be challenging. Dr Trevor Dines, Plantlife’s Botanical Specialist, designed their Every Flower Counts survey. He tells me, “We designed it so that participants would instantly receive their Personal Nectar Score in comparison with a National Nectar Score. This encouraged people to share their feedback with friends and family and get them to have a go too – hopefully it will influence how often they mow their grass going forward.

Doubtful data quality is one of the criticisms which has been levelled at citizen science in the past. Richard Fox, Associate Director of Recording and Research at Butterfly Conservation believes this argument has largely been won given a huge number of peer-reviewed scientific papers and government indicators using citizen science data. “In 2017 we published a research paper in Conservation Biology journal comparing the data from the Big Butterfly Count with findings from a survey carried out by experts. It showed a good match for changes in populations of particular species,” he says.

Taking part can benefit the volunteers as much as it benefits ecology and conservation. Somerset-based Sue describes herself as a butterfly newbie and could only identify two or three common butterflies before she took part in the Big Butterfly Count.  “I’m thrilled that I’ve learnt such a lot by observing them more carefully. I’m not sure why I haven’t done this before!“

Many expert naturalists across the British Isles also look forward to contributing to their favourite annual citizen science projects. Jane, who has in the past organised citizen science BioBlitz surveys in Dorset where she lives, tells me that nearly every year she records frogspawn in her pond for the Freshwater Habitats Trust’s Pondnet Spawn Survey. “I’m always enthusiastic about this one because I’m stir-crazy in spring after not being able to record much wildlife during the winter. It really works for me because I just have to go out in my garden every day and check the pond.”

In my case Lockdown was the trigger for the decision to start contributing more seriously to citizen science. I have signed up before but didn’t usually get round to entering the data. In early summer this year I found lots of projects to choose from but, as a wildflower enthusiast but not expert, decided to focus on flower and insect projects.

First up was Plantlife’s Every Flower Counts survey and I entertained my neighbours by throwing stones over my shoulder to randomly select patches of our communal garden. Lying in the sun counting them was a lovely if snooze-inducing experience. Later, the on-line recording tool fed back to me that our grass is fairly low in nectar value. I’ve now shared this with my neighbours and I’m hoping to persuade them we should reduce mowing frequency next year to help insects.

Grow Wild and Kew Gardens’ Flower-Insect Timed Count was the second project I took part in and this time it was five ten-minute daily records of pollinators on my lavender bush MIndful of data quality issues, I resisted recording interesting pollinating insects flying near but not in my sample area. I also became very aware of the sounds and smells in my garden. It was rather like a ten minute nature meditation.

Finally it was time to get to grips with my wasp trap samples. The trapping might seem destructive but I’m reassured that sampling a small number of individuals from social wasp colonies has very limited impact on the population as a whole. Each worker wasp usually lives no more than three weeks, and the data we’re collecting is essential to really understand changes in wasp populations.

In previous years, volunteers packaged their trap samples and sent them to entomologists at University College London for identification. This year, because social distancing restrictions are affecting laboratory work, us participants are going to take on the challenge of identification ourselves. I wasn’t much looking forward to being so close to wasps dead or alive to do this but took a deep breath and was really able to appreciate their beauty when magnified.

The Big Wasp Survey has had a dramatic impact on my wasp phobia.  Dr Seirian Sumner, passionate wasp enthusiast, wasn’t surprised to hear this. “They are stunning aren’t they and surprisingly hairy! We’re interested in how taking part affects the volunteers’ attitudes to wasps and this year we’re adding a perception survey before and after the sampling to see the impact.”

It seems I’m not alone in getting more involved in citizen science this year during Lockdown. Butterfly Conservation estimates that there has been double the amount of data entered for the Big Butterfly Count compared to last year. Given the benefits for understanding our wildlife, engagement with nature and the impact on our wellbeing, we need this enthusiasm to continue into 2021.

Citizen science projects to take part in from the start of 2021

Whether for your own wellbeing or to contribute to a greater understanding of British Wildlife, I’d urge you to take part in at least one nature-related citizen science project in 2021. As well as the surveys referred to in this article, there are projects you could contribute to from the first of January onwards with all the information on the organisers’ websites.

Begin the new year as you mean to go on with theBotanical Society of Britain and Ireland’s New Year Plant Hunt.  You need to record the plants you see in flower on New Year’s Day either by sending in the flower names or if you’re not confident with identification, either join your local nature group’s walk or take well-focused photographs for others to identify the flowers.

Contribute to the National Trust’s Blossom Watch from the first of January onwards to track the progress of blossom across the British Isles.

Take part in one of the most successful British surveys with the RSPB’s Big Garden Birdwatch. From the 25th to 27th of January 2021, you’ll be asked to record the birds you see in your garden or a park during one hour.

[registration_form]