Annual butterfly survey recorders needed

Is anyone interested in helping with the annual Stocker’s Lake butterfly survey? At present, there are three people in the recording team but it would be good to have a few more volunteers.

What does it involve?

The survey involves walking around the lake, usually once a month - it takes about an hour - and recording the number and species of butterfly seen in each section of the route. Simple weather data is also recorded. Your results are then entered directly onto the UK Butterfly Monitoring Society website which collates the totals and produces an annual survey.

The United Kingdom Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) is one of the longest running insect monitoring schemes in the world. The scheme began in 1976 and now records data on over 2,000 sites per year; incorporating butterfly transects, the Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS), and timed-counts. The resulting UKBMS dataset is one of the most important resources for understanding changes in insect populations.

The UKBMS is based on a well-established and enjoyable recording method and has produced important insights into almost all aspects of butterfly ecology. To get an idea of how our Stocker’s Lake Survey please visit our Sightings page from which you can download all of our annual butterfly survey reports dating back to 2014.

If you are still interested, please email Barbara James (barbara.james5@btopenworld.com) who can give you further information.