Site indices, as a relative measure of the actual population size, for UK butterfly species calculated from data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Site indices are a relative rather than an absolute measure of the size of a population, and have been shown to relate closely to other, more intensive, measures of population size such as mark, release, recapture (MRR) methods. The site index can be thought of as a relative measure of the actual population size, being a more or less constant proportion of the number of butterflies present. The proportion seen is likely to vary according to species; some butterfly species are more conspicuous and thus more easily detected, whereas others are much less easy to see. Site indices are only calculated at sites with sufficient monitoring visits throughout the season, or for targeted reduced effort surveys (timed observations, larval web counts and egg counts) where counts are generally obtained as close to the peak of the flight period as possible and are subsequently adjusted for the time of year and size of the site (area of suitable habitat type for a given species). Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) sites are thus excluded because they are based on very few visits from which accurate indices of abundance cannot currently be calculated. For transect sites a statistical model (a General Additive Model, 'GAM') is used to impute missing values and to calculate a site index. Each year most transect sites (over 90%) produce an index for at least one species and in recent years site indices are calculated for almost 1,500 sites across the UK. Site indices are subsequently collated to contribute to the overall 'Collated Index' for each species, which are relative measures of the abundance of each species across a geographical area, for example, across the whole UK or at country level in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Individual site indices are important in informing conservation management as not all sites show the same patterns for each species and likely reflect a combination of local climate and habitat management at the site. Although the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and Butterfly Conservation (BC) are responsible for the calculation and interpretation of site indices, the collection of the data used in its creation is ultimately reliant on a large volunteer community. The UKBMS is run by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), in partnership with the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), and supported and steered by Forestry Commission (FC), Natural England(NE), Natural Resources Wales (NRW), Northern Ireland Environment Agency (NIEA), and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/0f64d554-b36f-484a-a231-b6526796877a

This is a long-term monitoring dataset of surface temperature, surface oxygen, water clarity, water chemistry and phytoplankton chlorophyll a from weekly to fortnightly sampling at Grasmere in Cumbria, England that began in 1968 for some variables. The data were initially collected by the Freshwater Biological Association but have been collected by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH) and its predecessor Institute of Freshwater Ecology since 1989. The data available to download comprise surface temperature (TEMP) in degree Celsius, surface oxygen saturation (OXYG) in % air-saturation, Secchi depth (SECC) in metres, alkalinity (ALKA) in µg per litre as CaCO3 and pH. Ammonium (NH4N), nitrate (NO3N), soluble reactive phosphate (PO4P), total phosphorus (TOTP), dissolved reactive silicon expressed as SiO2 (SIO2) and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (TOCA) are all given in µg per litre. Measurements are made from a boat at a marked location (buoy) at the deepest part of the lake. When it was not possible to visit the buoy, samples were taken from the shore, thus water samples were not integrated on these occasions, marked as Flag 2. All data are from June 1968 until the end of 2013. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b891c50a-1f77-48b2-9c41-7cc0e8993c50

This dataset consists of hourly air temperature and wind speed data from a meteorological station sited on top of a boat house, located in Cumbria, England, next to Esthwaite Water. Measurements were taken every 4 minutes and calculated as hourly averages. The data were collected by the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology between 2008 and 2011 inclusive. This dataset has been used in various publications, please see supporting documentation for more detail. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9411b86e-7f43-4249-b3c2-f5adb04447cb

This is part of an ongoing long-term monitoring dataset of surface temperature, surface oxygen, water clarity, water chemistry and phytoplankton chlorophyll a from fortnightly sampling at Grasmere in Cumbria, England that began in 1968 for some variables. The data have been collected by the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH). The data available to download comprise surface temperature (TEMP) in degree Celsius, surface oxygen saturation (OXYG) in % air-saturation, Secchi depth (SECC) in metres, alkalinity (ALKA) in µg per litre as CaCO3 and pH. Ammonium (NH4N), nitrate (NO3N), soluble reactive phosphate (PO4P), total phosphorus (TOTP), dissolved reactive silicon expressed as SiO2 (SIO2) and phytoplankton chlorophyll a (TOCA) are all given in µg per litre. Measurements are made from a boat at a marked location (buoy) at the deepest part of the lake. When it was not possible to visit the buoy, samples were taken from the shore, thus water samples were not integrated on these occasions, marked as Flag 2. All data are from January 2014 until the end of March 2018. Unfortunately, due to funding shortages, the long-term monitoring of Grasmere ended in March 2018. 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. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/86cce079-9410-4948-978a-1c92ff3d604c

Site indices, as a relative measure of the actual population size, for UK butterfly species calculated from data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Site indices are a relative rather than an absolute measure of the size of a population, and have been shown to relate closely to other, more intensive, measures of population size such as mark, release, recapture (MRR) methods. The site index can be thought of as a relative measure of the actual population size, being a more or less constant proportion of the number of butterflies present. The proportion seen is likely to vary according to species; some butterfly species are more conspicuous and thus more easily detected, whereas others are much less easy to see. Site indices are only calculated at sites with sufficient monitoring visits throughout the season, or for targeted reduced effort surveys (timed observations, larval web counts and egg counts) where counts are generally obtained as close to the peak of the flight period as possible and are subsequently adjusted for the time of year and size of the site (area of suitable habitat type for a given species). Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) sites are thus excluded because they are based on very few visits from which accurate indices of abundance cannot currently be calculated. For transect sites a statistical model (a General Additive Model, 'GAM') is used to impute missing values and to calculate a site index. Each year most transect sites (over 90%) produce an index for at least one species and in recent years site indices are calculated for almost 1,500 sites across the UK. Site indices are subsequently collated to contribute to the overall 'Collated Index' for each species, which are relative measures of the abundance of each species across a geographical area, for example, across the whole UK or at country level in England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Individual site indices are important in informing conservation management as not all sites show the same patterns for each species and likely reflect a combination of local climate and habitat management at the site. The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organized and funded by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH), 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. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/abc32fcc-07e6-48ef-9cf3-d7d65e127bf1

Coarse grain vegetation data from the UK Environmental Change Network (ECN) terrestrial sites. These data are collected at all of ECN's terrestrial sites using a standard protocol (see supporting documentation). In this protocol, 50 2m x 2m plots are randomly selected within each vegetation type on the site - species presence is recorded in 40cm x 40 cm cells randomly selected within these plots. They represent continuous records every nine years from 1993 to 2012. ECN is the UK's long-term environmental monitoring programme. It is a multi-agency programme sponsored by a consortium of fourteen government departments and agencies. These organisations contribute to the programme through funding either site monitoring and/or network co-ordination activities. These organisations are: Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Cyfoeth Naturiol Cymru - Natural Resources Wales, Defence Science & Technology Laboratory, Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Environment Agency, Forestry Commission, Llywodraeth Cymru - Welsh Government, Natural England, Natural Environment Research Council, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/d349babc-329a-4d6e-9eca-92e630e1be3f