Butterfly Monitoring Schemes
Butterfly Monitoring Schemes (BMS) record butterflies every year, by counting them along fixed routes called transects. This vital information is gathered mainly by citizen scientists (volunteers) who have been trained (or are self-taught) to recognise and identify species and follow the protocols of monitoring along butterfly transects.
Butterflies are one of the best-monitored insect groups in Europe thanks to the long-term monitoring schemes that have been running for decades in some countries. The first Butterfly Monitoring Scheme began in the United Kingdom in 1976 (UKBMS), since then, this methodology has been adopted in many other European countries to monitor butterflies. All use the same standardised survey method, designed by Ernie Pollard, of the Monks Wood Experimental Station in the UK (Pollard and Yates, 1983). The transects (fixed routes) are counted repeatedly through the butterfly season, ideally every week but often less frequently due to the availability of volunteers or due to unsuitable weather. Statistical modelling techniques have been developed to account for uneven sampling and enable standardized assessments of changes in abundance over time. The methodology provides robust data to identify population trends and assess the status of butterfly species.
The eBMS network includes several partners that provide their 
data every year from the different National Butterfly Monitoring Schemes throughout Europe. Currently, there are 22 partners in 20 different countries with their respective BMS. Click on the countries to see their National BMS websites and discover more about their butterfly monitoring, how to join and contact them.
Austria (Viel-Falter) - VFBMS
Belgium (Flanders) - BEBMS
Croatia - HRBMS
Czech Republic - CZBMS
Finland - FIBMS
France - FRBMS
Germany - DEBMS
Hungary - HUBMS
Ireland - IRBMS
Italy - ITBMS
Luxembourg - LUBMS
Lithuania - LTBMS
Norway - NOBMS
Portugal - PTBMS
Slovenia - SLBM
Spain (Catalonia) - ES-CTBMS
Spain (Zerynthia) - ES-CBBMS
Spain (excl. Catalonia, Zerynthia) - ESBMS
Sweden - SEBMS
Switzerland - CHBMS
The Netherlands - NLBMS
UK - UKBMS
The map on the right shows the spatial distribution of transects across major biogeographic regions in Europe from the eBMS database (2020 update map with data until 2019). Graphs: a) Number of transect per year between 1990-2018 in the eBMS database b) Number of schemes in every year (clear colors refer to countries outside EU) between 1990 - 2018.
If you want to set up a new transect in one of these countries, please follow the links in each country and try to contact the main coordinator. Some countries have their own online system to manage national Butterfly Monitoring Schemes.