Volunteering
Volunteers are needed to run a mosquito trap at wetland habitats such at bogs, fens, marshes, wet woodland, reedbeds, saltmarshes and floodplains. The aim is to run mosquito traps in each 50 kilometres grid square in England.
We hope that this enhancement of our surveillance will help us gather data to further understand the future risks arboviruses may have to humans and other animals.
We hope to get representation from every grid square on the map!
How to help
Would you be interested in running a small mosquito trap for us? This year we would like the volunteers to run the trap for 2-3 trapping sessions between mid-July and early-September 2025.
We require the mosquito trap to run for 3 consecutive nights during each sampling period. Ideally the trap will be run once a month at the same latitude/longitude.
The trap must be set up at a local wetland habitat or nature reserve. The location does not need to be a nature reserve, but it is preferable. Please do not place the traps in areas accessible to livestock or visible to members of the public.
After the end of the 3-night trapping period, the mosquito catch would need to be posted back on the same day, for identification at our laboratory.
We provide all equipment required, including mosquito traps and stamped addressed envelopes. We are very happy to provide further information to answer any questions you may have and will provide guidance and support to all volunteers during the trapping time.
How to apply
To take part, please email mosquito@ukhsa.gov.uk, and include your contact details, and the name of the local wetland where you can run the trap.
Please put SNAPSHOT 2025 in the subject heading.