Types of data

Structured Data

Some taxa are monitored by structured monitoring schemes that have a unified sampling protocol and usually a spatial design that specified target sampling locations. In the UK, these schemes include

UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS)

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 3,000 sites per year across the UK; incorporating traditional butterfly transects, Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS), and targeted surveys

Occupancy data from UKBMS monitoring scheme is on GBIF. Analysis outputs, such as species abundance indices and species abundance trends, are produced annually and are available to download from the UKCEH Environmental Inforamtion Data Centre (EIDC). The count data is not currently available online but is available on request from the UKBMS.

UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (UK PoMS)

The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme aims to establish how insect pollinator populations are changing across the UK. UK PoMS was started in 2017 and runs two main surveys; Flower-Insect Time Counts (FIT counts) and systematic 1km square surveys. UK PoMS is a partnership funded jointly by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH) and Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) (through funding from the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Scottish Government, Welsh Government and Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs for Northern Ireland).

The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme data from the first sie years (2017 to 2022) are available to download from the UKCEH Environmental Information Data Centre (EIDC).

BeeWalk Survey Scheme

BeeWalk is a national recording scheme run by the Bumblebee Conservation Trust to collect data to monitor the abundance of bumblebees on transects across Britain. This data collection would be impossible without volunteer BeeWalkers, who identify and count the bumblebees they see on a monthly walk (a fixed route of around 1 to 2 km - you choose where it goes) from March to October.

Biological Recording

Biological recording involves documenting where and when species are observed. These records are collected by a wide network of volunteers, members of taxonomic societies and professional ecologists. Unlike structured monitoring, there is no strict protocol to govern the methods that individuals use to collect the data. This flexibility is powerful since it means observations are collected across a broad range of species, locations, days and times. Data are often submitted through local environmental records centres or platforms like iRecord, where observations can be shared.

Data Verification

To ensure reliability, species occurrence records in the UK typically undergo a process of expert verification, where experienced taxonomists or expert local and regional recorders assess the accuracy of submitted species observation. Many schemes and societies apply structured validation rules, flagging unusual records for further review. Increasingly, automated tools are also used to support this process, helping to identify potential errors such as implausible coordinates or out-of-range observations. Platforms such as Record Cleaner provide additional support by standardising and screening datasets for common issues. Expert validation and automated cleaning helps maintain high data quality, minimizing false positive detection, to ensure that the data are robust and suitable for scientific and conservation use.

Citing Data

To acknowledge the efforts that we provide some suggested options below for statements to include in acknowledgements and data availability statements on published work involved data that the BRC has helped to mobilize

Recommended citation practices depend on the download routes:

  • GBIF - we recommend citing the doi that is supplied with any dataset download from GBIF. See the GBIF Citation Guidelines for details

  • NBN - use the NBN recommendations given in the Citation and attribution section of the NBN Guidance.

  • Direct from BRC - Specific citaion information may be supplied with the data, but otherwise the following guidance is recommended:

    [organisation/scheme name] ([year]). Data from [recording survey name]. Exported from [data source]] on [Date retrieved]

    for example:

    UK Laybird Record Scheme (2024). Data from the UK Ladybird recording scheme. Exported from BRC database on 21/04/2024.

  • Direct from schemes - Specific citaion information may be supplied with the data, but otherwise following the guidance provided above for Direct from BRC is recommended

  • Published datasets on data archiving platforms (e.g. Plant Atlas 2020 hectad/dateclass data on Zenodo) - Cite the doi on the archiving platform.

In addition to citing the dataset we recommend acknowledging the scheme. In cases where BRC has played a role in supporting the scheme with the collection, processing or distribution of the data we would appreciate if you could also thank BRC. For instance if data is collected or stored via iRecord ot if BRC provided support to the scheme (e.g. web hosting)

We thank the [insert scheme name] for organizing and verifying data collection.

We also thank the UKCEH BRC for the assistance and support maintaining infrastructure that supports data collection (iRecord) and storage (indicia).