United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: site location data 2023

This dataset provides the details of all sites on which butterflies have been monitored as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). This includes all standard UKBMS transect sites, Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) sites and targeted species survey sites (timed counts, single-species transects, larval web and egg counts). Data includes the location within the UK, the length and number of sections for the butterfly transect on each site and the number of years each transect has been monitored. The location of some sites are sensitive and are excluded from this dataset. Users requiring access to the complete dataset, including sensitive site location data, can submit a request via the UKBMS website. The UKBMS started in 1976 with fewer than 50 sites. Since then the number of sites monitored each year has increased to several thousand. There are new sites each year and a small number where the transect is no longer surveyed. Details of this are provided in the site dataset in the form of the first and last year in which each site was surveyed.

The majority of site data is provided by recorders at the time a transect is created. Site data are crucial in order to determine where extra recording effort is required and to investigate where butterfly populations are changing most and thus where conservation should be targeted, including across different habitat types.

The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organised and funded by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme.

This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability.

本数据集提供了英国蝴蝶监测计划（UKBMS）中所有蝴蝶监测站点的详细信息。这包括所有标准UKBMS样线站点、广域乡村蝴蝶调查（WCBS）站点以及目标物种调查站点（定时计数、单物种样线、幼虫网和卵计数）。数据包含各站点在英国境内的位置、蝴蝶样线的长度与分段数量，以及每个样线的监测年限。部分站点的位置信息较为敏感，未纳入本数据集。需要获取完整数据集（含敏感站点位置数据）的用户，可通过UKBMS官网提交申请。UKBMS始于1976年，最初监测站点不足50个。此后，每年的监测站点数量已增至数千个。每年都会新增站点，同时也有少量样线停止调查。这些信息在站点数据集中以每个站点首次和末次调查年份的形式呈现。大部分站点数据由记录员在样线建立时提供。站点数据对于确定需额外投入记录工作的区域、探究蝴蝶种群变化最显著的区域（进而明确保护重点区域，包括不同栖息地类型）至关重要。英国蝴蝶监测计划由蝴蝶保护组织（BC）、英国生态与水文中心（UKCEH）、英国鸟类学信托基金会（BTO）以及联合自然保护委员会（JNCC）共同组织并资助。UKBMS对所有为本计划贡献数据的志愿者深表感谢。本研究得到自然环境研究委员会（资助编号NE/R016429/1）的支持，是英国国家能力建设项目UK-SCAPE计划的一部分。