30/08/2026
🪰 How many bugs have you splatted? 🪰
🚗Remember when a long car journey meant arriving with a windscreen covered in squashed bugs? These days, that seems to happen far less often. While a cleaner windscreen might sound like a good thing, it can also be a sign that there are fewer insects around – meaning fewer pollinators and less food for birds, bats and other wildlife.
🐝 Bugs Matter, run by Buglife - The Invertebrate Conservation Trust, is a Citizen Science survey measuring changes in the number of insects each year. In previous years, participants used a paper “Splatometer” – but this year it’s gone digital!
📱 All you need is a car, a journey and a smartphone.
Taking part is easy:
🪰 Clean your vehicle’s number plate before setting off.
🪰 When you reach your destination, count the bug splats across the entire number plate.
🪰 Use the Virtual Splatometer in the Bugs Matter app to take the best photograph you can.
🪰 Submit your photo and journey details through the app.
🪰 You don't even need to be the driver – just make sure you have their permission.
🪰 The app includes a handy tutorial and safety advice.
So, if you're heading out and about this Bank Holiday weekend, why not turn your journey into a mini wildlife survey? 🚗🪰
Help Buglife measure the health of Britain's insects – every splat counts!
The survey runs until 30 September 2026.
For more information and to take part, visit:
Citizen science - The Bugs Matter survey We need lots of people to take part this summer, sharing findings from their journeys to help us understand more about our insect populations!
