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Botham, M.S.; Middlebrook, I.; Harrower, C.; Conway, R.; Roy, D.B.

United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: phenology 2023

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PLEASE NOTE: By accessing or using this dataset, you agree to the terms of the relevant licence agreement(s). You will ensure that this dataset is cited in any publication that describes research in which the data have been used.

This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

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https://doi.org/10.5285/01c38130-d039-4af6-82a0-b32c1290d46a
This dataset provides data on the timing of butterfly flight periods for each UK butterfly species across all monitored sites in the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Annual data from over 2,500 sites are presented relating to the timing (first appearance, last appearance, date of peak abundance and mean flight date) and the duration (total number of days, standard deviation around the mean flight date) of the flight period for all UK butterfly species from 1976 to the year in the name of this dataset.

Phenology change is a widely used measure of the biological impacts of climate change because of the close relationship between temperature and the timing of biological events. This dataset provides an invaluable tool for assessing the impacts of climate change both spatially and temporally.

The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organized 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.
Publication date: 2025-01-22
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More information

View numbers valid from 22 January 2025 Download numbers valid from 22 January 2025 (information prior to this was not collected)

Format

Comma-separated values (CSV)

Spatial information

Study area
Spatial representation type
Tabular (text)
Spatial reference system
OSGB 1936 / British National Grid

Temporal information

Temporal extent
2023-01-01    to    2023-12-31

Provenance & quality

Phenology data include measurements of the timing and duration of flight periods for each butterfly species at each site in each year it was recorded there. Data on timing include the first day and last day on which a given species was recorded at each site in each year, the day on which the greatest (peak) count of each species was recorded for each site in each year, and the mean flight date (a weighted mean day number) for each species at each site in each year. Data on the duration of flight periods include the standard deviation around the mean flight date and the number of days (range) between the first and last days on which a species was recorded on a given site in each year it was recorded there.

Licensing and constraints

This dataset is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence

Cite this dataset as:
Botham, M.S.; Middlebrook, I.; Harrower, C.; Conway, R.; Roy, D.B. (2025). United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme: phenology 2023. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre. https://doi.org/10.5285/01c38130-d039-4af6-82a0-b32c1290d46a

Contains UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) data © copyright and database right Butterfly Conservation, the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, British Trust for Ornithology, and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee.

Correspondence/contact details

Marc Botham
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Maclean Building, Benson Lane, Crowmarsh Gifford
Wallingford
Oxfordshire
OX10 8BB
UNITED KINGDOM
 enquiries@ceh.ac.uk

Authors

Botham, M.S.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Middlebrook, I.
Butterfly Conservation
Harrower, C.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
Conway, R.
Butterfly Conservation
Roy, D.B.
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Other contacts

Rights holders
UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Butterfly Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology, Natural Environment Research Council, Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Custodian
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk
Publisher
NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
 info@eidc.ac.uk

Additional metadata

Topic categories
environment
INSPIRE theme
Environmental Monitoring Facilities
Keywords
Biodiversity , England , Northern Ireland , Scotland , UK-SCAPE , United Kingdom , Wales
Funding
Natural Environment Research Council Award: NE/S011641/1
Butterfly Conservation
JNCC
Last updated
05 February 2025 10:04