After the garden birds, the insects are now the focus: the Berlin regional association of the Nature Conservation Union (Nabu) is calling for an “insect count”. From June 3rd to 12th and from August 5th to 14th, the Berliners should observe the animals and document their numbers.
“With the insect summer we want to sensitize people to the protection of the insects that we so urgently need,” said Melanie von Orlow, the managing director of the Nabu regional association, in a press statement. Everyone can observe and count almost anywhere: garden, balcony, park, meadow, forest, field, pond, stream or river. According to Nabu, the observation area should not be larger than about ten meters in each direction from your own location. Each hour should be counted.
[If you want to have all the latest news live on your mobile phone, we recommend our app, which you can download here for Apple and Android devices.]
Since very few volunteers can distinguish between the individual insects, Nabu offers identification aids. You can name the individual animals at www.insektentrainer.de. The observations should be reported via an online form or with the free app “NABU insect summer”. All the necessary information about this campaign is available at www.insektensommer.de.
The focus of this year’s campaign for the Nabu is the bumblebee. In Berlin there are still 25 of the 41 bumblebee species found in Germany. Non-professionals can identify the three most common species, bumble bee, stone bumblebee and ground beetle, with the help of an identification key based on the pattern on the rump. “Anyone who wants to observe bumblebees should look for plants with a long calyx such as clover or snapdragons, which they particularly like,” said von Orlow.
“Otherwise you can also find them on many other flowering plants such as lavender, lupine, broom or poppies.” The data is recorded in cooperation with the platform www.naturgucker.de. The results are evaluated by Nabu and published promptly on www.NABU.de/insektensommer-ales.
