The National Biodiversity Data Centre have developed an eCourse for the Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. The Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme provides recorders with an opportunity to record butterflies in their gardens. Ireland has 32 resident and 3 common migrant butterfly species and while this is quite a manageable number to learn, we only cover the 20 most common butterfly species in the Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. This makes this recording scheme very accessible to beginners.
By going through this eCourse you will learn:
- How to identify the 20 garden butterfly species
- The methods for the Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
- How to register your garden on the National Sampling Framework (video tutorial)
- How to submit your data (video tutorial)
- Butterfly identification support
Click on the photo below to start the eCourse.
The Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is extremely accessible to beginners as it relates to only 20 of our 35 butterfly species, you can do it in your own garden and only requires 15 minutes of your time.
This course can be used to complement our ‘swatches’ which are small handheld identification guides that are useful to have to hand when you are surveying. Swatches can be purchased through our online shop
Please see our page on the Garden Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
Niamh Phelan,
Biodiversity Engagement Officer.