15 Apr Butterfly Transects on the Coast

The UK butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS) is one of the longest running insect recording monitoring schemes in the world. Beginning in 1976 it now records over 3,000 sites per year across the UK. As the  UKBMS celebrates its 50th survey season, Life on the Edge has added 4 new transects to its database. This summer groups of excited nature enthusiasts have join forces to take on walking these coastal butterfly transects from April till Sept, recording the butterflies they see. A butterfly transect is a repeatable method of surveying a site of interest. A volunteer transect surveyor walks the route each week through the butterfly recording season from the beginning of April to the end of sept in suitable weather condition, counting the number of each species they see.  

Grayling Butterfly by John Walters

The records are not only interesting for our project, as one of our target butterflies (the Grayling) could be spotted, but its also hugely important for informing national trends on butterflies and wider habitat health.  

LotE has assisted Holbeton to establish 3 new transect routes around their village and surrounding countryside with neighbouring parish Newton and Noss establishing another transect on the coast. So far we have a run training day in how to walk a transect and record butterflies with a further session planned to look at butterfly species ID once the season gets established, and a few more butterflies are on the wing.  

Its been great to see the enthusiasm of communities keen to make a difference for invertebrates and getting involved with long established, national schemes means that all their collected data will not only help our project but much wider on a national scale.