Our latest blog post is from our Ecosystems Analysis Team, who reflect on the importance of long-term data collection in biodiversity monitoring, and the value of the volunteer citizen scientists who contribute.
In October 2025, JNCC, partner organisations and volunteer citizen scientists met together to celebrate the National Plant Monitoring Scheme (NPMS) reaching a decade of plant and habitat monitoring, and the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) reaching half a century of butterfly monitoring.
This year, we will be celebrating decades of data analysis and statistical production for both schemes. These statistics help the UK Government understand how species and habitats change from year to year, underlying official statistics and UK Biodiversity Indicators.
These milestones serve as a brilliant reminder of the importance of long-term data collection, and the ways citizen science is contributing to national policy.
How Scheme Data are Used
Both the NPMS and UKBMS produce annual statistics, which are consistent and robust in data collection, analysis and interpretation, with each year’s results building on those from previous years. The data are also used in the UK Biodiversity Indicators (UKBIs) Plants of the Wider Countryside, and Insects of the Wider Countryside (butterflies). UKBIs are used to better understand the UK’s progress towards meeting goals laid out in the Convention on Biological Diversity. Measuring progress in such a way allows the UK government to understand what action may need to be taken in the future to reach specific targets and can help us understand what works when undertaking conservation and restoration programmes.
The 50-year UKBMS evidence base provides a brilliant resource for government and academia, with findings from the scheme showing changes in butterfly egg laying and hatching behaviours over time, migration of species to new sites in response to warmer summers, and population changes in some butterfly species. For example, data from the UKBMS have shown some increases in population abundance for the Adonis Blue and Silver-spotted Skipper in recent years as a result of habitat restoration and conservation programmes, while some evidence has been produced that a parasitoid fly, new to the UK, is causing harm to the Small Tortoiseshell.
Although they were originally developed for national monitoring, the rigorous scientific methods which underlie UKBMS and NPMS mean that they have been adapted for more local monitoring as well. Work undertaken through the Natural Capital and Ecosystem Assessment programme has helped to provide resources for people wanting to use these methods locally. An example of this local monitoring can be seen in the Tracking the Impact project, which collects a variety of biodiversity data across the Chilterns National Landscape to measure the differences made by conservation activities in the area. Both NPMS and UKBMS methods have been adapted for local use, and are carried out across the Chilterns. This brings a new understanding of biodiversity change in response to management, and using consistent methods with national monitoring allows results to be compared with national trends.
Long-term biodiversity monitoring schemes, enable understanding of the ways in which different management or pressures are influencing biodiversity. The data gathered by the schemes have, for example, been used to analyse the effectiveness of protected areas and to understand habitat exposure to climate change across the UK.
Another benefit of both the UKBMS and NPMS using citizen science is that the schemes support continued skills development and connections to the environment for volunteers across the country, and we are able to co-develop accessible opportunities to engage with nature with volunteers. It is also a cost-effective way to collect a large amount of data from across the country, and we are hugely indebted to everyone who contributes.
Data collection for the future
The NPMS is purpose-built to help analyse the state of the UK’s habitats and enhances our understanding of how anthropogenic pressures and efforts are impacting our natural world. The UKBMS is a comprehensive study of 58 of 59 butterfly species in the UK, and the wealth of data that has been collected over the last 50 years is an incredible resource for researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners. As we move into the next decade of collection for both schemes, we will continue to monitor our natural environment; we will keep working to reach new people and bring opportunities to the UK general public; and we will keep building partnerships to better understand how our data can be used for the benefit of both people and the environment.
UKBMS and NPMS are two of several long-term national biodiversity monitoring schemes run by partnerships of UK organisations – others monitor different taxonomic groups such as birds and bats. We look forward to celebrating more milestones across all these schemes in the years to come.
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