Real-time Arbovirus Detection And Response
Associated project run by UKHSA
Snapshot Mosquito Surveillance 2025
About the project:
Understanding the distribution of mosquitoes is an integral part of investigating the potential for mosquito borne diseases, including those that can affect humans and wildlife such as birds. The Medical Entomology and Zoonoses Ecology (MEZE) team at UKHSA are developing mosquito surveillance across England. MEZE are also part of the VB-RADAR project with APHA, the BTO, and IoZ, which aims to further understand the occurrence of mosquito-borne viruses. We are looking for volunteers to help monitor mosquitoes at wetland areas across every region of the country by conducting a few short trapping sessions between mid-July and early- September 2025..
Project aims:
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 50km grid square in England (see map).
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 you can 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.
Please do let us know if you can help us by the 30th June 2025 to ensure timely delivery of all traps and equipment.
The BG Pro Mosquito Trap:
The project will be conducted using the BG Pro Mosquito Trap, a compact trap that is simple to set-up and transport. Mosquitoes are attracted to the trap by the lure attractant and external yeast solution, designed to mimic bird and mammal hosts. Mosquitoes are then trapped inside a sample container, which is then removed from the trap and posted for analysis. The BG Pro is designed to specifically capture mosquitoes, and as it has no light source, will not attract moths.
The BG Pro is a small and easy-to-assemble trap
Snapshot 2024 Results:
Last year, volunteers across the country ran a BG-pro mosquito traps during two tighter collection windows, once in August and again in September. The traps were also run for 3-night “Snapshot” trapping sessions.
Habitats varied from bogs, marshes, reedbeds, floodplains, lakes, and reservoirs.
71 traps were run representing 71 grid squares from the total 82 potential squares across England (Figure 1).
The project collected an impressive 961 mosquitoes (903 females and 58 males), many in locations that had not been surveyed for mosquitoes before.
Snapshot mosquito trap sites in 2024
Mosquito species caught by snapshot volunteers in 2024
A total of 526 female mosquitoes were caught in August, and a total of 377 females were caught in September.
Samples represented mosquitoes from across all parts of England; useful to understanding species distribution (Figure 2). The majority were mosquitoes associated with wetlands and known for their preference for feeding on birds, including Culiseta morsitans and Culex pipiens s.l.
Snapshot 2024 also provided a bank of samples for arbovirus analyses to develop knowledge on the circulation of viruses such as Usutu.
The project provided evidence that the incidence of Usutu is more widely distributed than previously confirmed and we would like to further investigate by re-running the programme in 2025.