Description:
Butterflies have been identified as an important component of the UK Terrestrial Biodiversity Surveillance Strategy. Butterflies are widely accepted as ecological indicators of ecosystem health and meet a number of the criteria for selecting indicator species. Butterflies also have great popular appeal (something that eludes most insect groups) and are easy to observe and record.
The UKBMS operates two principal methods of monitoring butterflies. Sitebased assessments of butterfly communities are undertaken using traditional ‘Pollard Walks’ to sample high quality habitats. A complementary Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) was launched in 2009. The WCBS is a reduced-effort approach, sampling randomly selected 1km squares.
Originator:
The UKBMS is operated by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Butterfly Conservation and the British Trust for Ornithology and is funded by a multiagency consortium including the Countryside Council for Wales, Defra, the Joint Nature Conservation Committee
Is this an existing or new approach to measuring landscape change?:
Existing
Aspect of landscape:
Spatial coverage:
All areas where there are butterflies so potentially not the uplands
Landscape Character Type:
Geographical unit:
1 km squares and site walks
Frequency of measure:
Annual
Indicator:
Number and distribution of butterflies
Resource requirements:
Licence to use the data potentially?
Establishment cost:
Low (existing resources)
Ongoing operational cost:
Low
Ongoing reporting cost:
Low
Data source:
Field survey followed by desk analysis
Submitted by:
Jemma
Countryscape
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