Lets help the pollinators and have fun learning!


Dear enthusiast,

We are all concerned at the plight of our bees and other wild pollinators
due to loss of habitat, the introduction of new diseases, and widespread
pesticide use. You are receiving this email because you previously signed
up to take part in or hear more about future citizen-science projects run
by the University of Sussex. I am writing to you today to gauge interest
in a new and exciting initiative called The Buzz Club. The Buzz Club hopes to
transform the way people learn and interact with the natural world, giving
them an opportunity to become active participants in scientific research,
while generating vital data on pollinators and the pollination they
provide.

Tackling pollinator declines would be much easier if we had good data on pollinator populations, so that we knew which species were declining most, and whereabouts in the country action was most needed. We really need long-term data on pollinators from lots of sites around the UK, and this is where you can help! We have previously run a number “citizen science” projects, including Beans & Bees and the Pollination Abundance Network (P.A.N.), which over 600 people took part in last year. Both were a great success, giving us valuable up-to-date information on pollination and pollinator abundance across the UK.

To really understand changes in pollinator populations however, continuous year-on-year monitoring is desperately needed. Unfortunately these projects do not currently have any long-term financial support. This is why we plan to start a new charity, The Buzz Club. Members of the club will be invited to join in any of a range of fun experiments, with advice, support and equipment provided. There will be new experiments each year, as well as some core experiments which we will run every year, which will include Beans & Bees and PAN. Members will have free choice over which projects to take part in, but will also have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of bees and other insects, learn which ones are found in their garden, and advancing scientific understanding all at the same time!

The projects would be suitable for children and adults alike, and will provide a fun way for the whole family to participate in science. We would also send quarterly newsletters with updates on what we have found so far, so that we can all see how the projects are helping to generate usable data. There is of course a catch; we ask members to pay a small subscription fee to help cover the costs of running these projects, a monthly fee of a minimum of £2. As a not-for-profit organisation, 100% of this money will go to supporting this work.

If you would be interested in joining and supporting The Buzz Club, please fill out this form, so we can gauge interest in this project. There is no obligation to sign-up after completing the form here If we gain enough interest, we will contact you again once we are underway. Thank you very much.

Yours sincerely

Professor Dave Goulson