UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme Site Locations and Survey History, 2020

2020 data detailing the locations and survey history of thousands of butterfly monitoring sites across the United Kingdom. The dataset includes standard transect sites, Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey sites, and targeted species survey sites, with information on transect length, sections, and years monitored. It is produced by the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, a collaboration involving Butterfly Conservation, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, British Trust for Ornithology, and Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Use Cases

• Analyze spatial distribution of butterfly monitoring effort based on site location data.
• Investigate long-term population changes by linking site data to survey year ranges.
• Plan conservation targeting by identifying habitat types and areas with changing populations as mentioned in the description.
• Assess survey methodology coverage by comparing standard transect, WCBS, and targeted survey sites.

Strengths

• Includes several thousand monitoring sites, reflecting a large-scale, long-running citizen science program.
• Provides first and last survey year for each site, enabling longitudinal analysis.
• Covers multiple survey methodologies (standard transects, WCBS, targeted counts) within a single dataset.

Limitations

• Location data for some sensitive sites is excluded, which may create spatial gaps in analysis.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS), organized by Butterfly Conservation, UKCEH, BTO, and JNCC.

Collection Method

Site data provided by volunteer recorders at the time a transect is created.

Time Range

Site data from 2020, with site-specific survey year ranges provided (scheme started in 1976).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-19 07:35:13.179902; freshness should be verified.

Geography

United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland).