Belfast

Monitors all the main allergenic pollen types through the growing season.

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Cambridge

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Cardiff

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Pollen Monitoring in South Wales

History

In 1935 Dr. D.D. Williams began a special clinic for asthma patients at St. David's Hospital in Cardiff . He was interested in the factors that provoked asthma, in particular those particles in the air that, if they were breathed in, could cause an attack . He contacted Mr H.A.Hyde the assistant curator of Botany at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff, who was studying the pollens present in peat beds, and persuaded him to help in a study of airborne pollens . They set out to trap pollen and spores from the atmosphere by sedimentation onto sticky glass slides and in 1942 carried out the first detailed study of airborne pollens in Europe . They collected pollen from trees and shrubs around the area to enable them to identify their catch, and gradually built up calendars of the pollen and spore seasons, enabling them to identify patients from the asthma clinic whose symptoms coincided with one or more of the pollen or spore seasons.

The Asthma and Allergy Unit at St David's Hospital in Cardiff was opened in the early 1950s and in 1954 a Hirst Spore Trap was purchased and set up on the roof of the National Museum of Wales in the centre of Cardiff. The site was moved to the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1963 where it is still situated.

Following the closure of the Asthma and Allergy Unit in 1997 the daily count of spores and pollen was taken over by the Common Cold Centre which is based at Cardiff University close to the Burkard trap which is still situated on the roof of the main administrative building of Cardiff University.

The Common Cold Centre is involved in clinical trials and basic research on infective and allergic diseases of the upper airways. The centre was established in 1988 and conducts clinical trials on new treatments for hay fever, common cold and influenza.

In 2001 the Common Cold Centre was no longer able to continue the monitoring and the data has since been collected at the School of Applied Sciences, UWIC.

Pollen and spore counts have been taken in Cardiff since 1954 and it is thought that this is the longest continuous pollen and spore data set for any site world-wide.

Edinburgh

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Invergowrie

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Research projects include pollen dispersal from Oil seed rape crop

Isle Of Wight

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London (Islington)

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This site also monitors many types of air pollution

Plymouth

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Aeropalynology at Plymouth

Plymouth has been contributing data to the EAN (UK) network since June 1994. The Burkard spore trap is installed on the roof of a 3-storey building in the University of Plymouth campus in the city centre. Data from the Burkard and standard meteorological instruments installed at the same site are helping to provide a clearer picture of the relationships between pollen/spore levels and the local weather.

The monitoring programme is undertaken by staff in the Department of Geographical Sciences, University of Plymouth. Besides the EAN network contribution, undergraduate and postgraduate research projects regularly involve aeropalynology at Plymouth.

Preston

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Monitors all the main allergenic pollen types through the growing season.

Worcester

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The NPARU collates the National Pollen Network, runs the quality control annuals and trains site operators. Details of the National Pollen and Aerobiology Research Unit are on this website. The NPARU also has a full weather station.