Guide to the an online transect input system forbutterfly monitoring - eBMSThis online system is to support the recording of butterfly transects. It
can be used anywhere in the world, although is currently tailored to use
within Europe (e.g. uses a European list of species). We recommend that you use national systems
where a formal monitoring scheme is in place. For schemes in Europe, refer to the list here.

Quick Guide:
These are the simple steps to get you started with entering data on the new online system.
1. Register for an account.
2. Go to ‘My Sites’ to setup new transect routes, or review the details of existing ones. Here you willdraw your transect by sections and include its details. This only needs to be done once.
3. Go to ‘My Walks’ to enter the data for your transect routes. . Here you will input the visits made inyour transect writing the species and weather conditions.
4. Go to ‘Annual Report’ to review your butterfly data, and to see what’s been entered for othertransects.
Step-by-step instructions for the key parts of the system are detailed below. Key links to click are
given in red text. Key areas of relevant web pages are highlighted through a red circle, e.g.

Contents
Quick Guide: .................................................................................................................................. 1
Setting up a new account ............................................................................................................... 2
Linking an existing transect route to your account ......................................................................... 3
Setting up a new transect site ........................................................................................................ 4
Drawing the transect route section-by-section ............................................................................... 6
Entering the results of a transect walk ........................................................................................... 9
Reviewing the data from your transects....................................................................................... 13

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Setting up a new account
The account registration approach uses email verification to minimise risks for spam accounts.
Go to http://www.butterfly-monitoring.net/mydata and click on ‘Register’ (top right of homepage).

1. Enter a username, your email address and your proper name. Tick the Time Zone and theCountry/scheme you are part of. Review the Terms of use for the site, and tick to agree tothem. Enter the image code in the human verification. Then click on ‘Create new account’.

22. You will now receive an email indicating that your account has been registered.
3. This email will includes the following text:Thank you for registering at European Butterfly Monitoring. You may now log
in by clicking this link or copying and pasting it to your browser:
http://www.butterfly-monitoring.net/mydata/user/reset/17/1468321218/30vicemLt67H11-Hxp5uw1zR-ltwOrEd20U0X7ETwc
This link can only be used once to log in and will lead you to a page where
you can set your password.
After setting your password, you will be able to log in at
http://www.butterfly-monitoring.net/mydata/user in the future using:username: Your username
password: Your password

4. Click on the link provided in the email to confirm your registration, via validation of youremail address.
5. Click on the ‘Log in’ button on the confirmation web page.
6. Enter your password for the site on the next page, making sure you enter it twice as
required. Select your preferred language and time zone. Then click on ‘Save’.
Your account is now ready to use
7. You can change your account details at any time by clicking on ‘My Account’ in the top rightcorner of any web page on the site, then selecting the ‘Edit’ tab.

Linking an existing transect route to your account
1. If you record butterflies on an existing transect that you know to be in the system, it isimportant that you do not recreate the transect route. Please contact the site
administrators via ebms@ceh.ac.uk to request access to enter data for this route.
2. Click on ‘My Sites’ to see a list of transect routes associated with your account.

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Setting up a new transect site
If you are setting up a new transect, you will need to enter details of the site and draw the transectroute, so please have these details to hand before you start.
1. To create a new site, in the main menu go to My Data -> Sites and click on ‘My Sites’ andthen click on ‘Add Site’.

2. Select the Country in which you are setting up a transect. The list of countries excludes
those for which an established Butterfly Monitoring Scheme exists, other than Luxembourg
which use this system as its main transect input system. For other countries with anestablished monitoring scheme in Europe, refer to the list here.
3. Enter the Name of your transect
4. Tick in the Grid Ref.: field. You will need to locate the approximate centre point of your siteon the map provided. To find your site on the map user the search facility or move aroundor zoom into the map using the tools provided. When you click on the map, the lat/lon foryour transect centre will be automatically filled in.
5. A Site Code will automatically be assigned to your transect. You can change this value if
required.
6. Enter the number of sections for your transect (between 1 and 16).
7. Enter the Width of your transect. Normally is 5 metres (2.5m in each side), if not there is theoption 6 and 10 metres.
8. Enter as many other general site details are possible (these are not mandatory).
9. Once your transect route is created you can download it in a variety of GIS formats.

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10. Click on ‘Save’
11. Now you will need to draw the route of each section of your transect, as described below.

5Drawing the transect route section-by-section
1. After you have saved your new site details, you should now be looking at the ‘Your Route’
tab as shown below.
2. Make sure that the first section is highlighted (‘S1’) in order to draw and edit the route forthat section.
3. Move the map around and zoom in or out so that you can see the area where you need todraw.

* Tools for drawing
your section route* Click on the map to start the section, draw theroute, then double-click to finish the section

4. You need to use the line-drawing tool, which will show a small circle on the point of yourcursor.
5. Click on the map at the start of your section, then draw the route by clicking on each corner
or turning point until you get to the end of the section. Double-click at the end of thesection to finish drawing the line.
6. When finished, the complete section should be shown as a yellow dashed line. Now click on
the button for the next section (e.g. S2) and draw the next section. When clicking on thenext section you will be prompted to save the route drawn so far.
7. Continue until all the sections have been drawn. You can include new sections with thebutton "Insect section"

68. Drawing the route can be a challenge. So, if you are not happy with the result, there areseveral ways to make amendments. Firstly, make sure the relevant section is highlight byselecting the route section (e.g. S5).
9. The simplest option is to just redraw a new line over the top. When you double-click tofinish, you will get a warning to confirm that it is ok to replace the existing section.
10. If you want to get the current line out of the way, you can click on the ‘Erase Route’, whichshould then remove the line for that section. If you have made a mistake mid-section, thisbutton will also remove the latest node on the line.
11. If you just need to move one or two corner points, then you can use the Modify tool. Small
blue circles will appear at each node on the line, and these can be dragged around into newpositions. You can also add new nodes by dragging the mid-section of a line.
12. Once the sections are drawn, please click on the ‘Complete section details’ button. Thenclick on the ‘Section Details’ tab and enter as many details as you can about each section,saving as you go along.

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Entering the results of a transect walk
1. In the main menu go to “My Data” -> “Transect Walks” and click on “My Walks” to see acalendar, showing all the walks that you have entered so far.

2. “My Walks” page will appear and you'll see the calendar that shows all the counts you've
entered so far.

* Use the drop-down list to filter thecalendar for just one site

* Click on the green ‘plus’ sign toenter data from a walk on that date93. If you walk several different sites, you can use the drop-down list to only show walks fromone site.
4. Locate the date of your walk, click on the green ‘plus’ sign to create the new walk, and you
will be presented with the ‘Walk Data Entry’ screen.
5. Make sure the right transect site is selected. Check the recorder name and edit if needed.
Enter the start and finish times, temperature and wind information.
6. If you enter a value for the % sun on this screen, it will fill in this value for all sections.
Alternatively, individual %sun values for each section can be entered on the next screen.
7. Remember to write in the Notes tab any change happened in the transect.

* Use 24hr clock

8. Once all the basic walk information has been entered, click on ‘Next’.

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9. On the butterfly data entry screen, the default table shows the whole European species listin taxonomic order. You can choose alternative lists using the drop-down list. However, thefirst time entering a visit to the transect, it will appear the whole list by default. After, in thesecond time entering a visit, you will see only the species saw before in your transect.

* Use drop-down list if you want
to choose a shorter species list

10. If you are using a short list, but have seen a new species, you can add this species to your listby typing its name in the box below the data grid. This box will auto-complete when youstart typing a name (as shown below). Select the relevant species when it appears and it will
be added to the bottom of your list.

11* This box will auto-complete.
Select the relevant name

11. Check/enter the % sun (at the top of the data table) figures for each section.
12. Enter the butterfly counts for each species/section. The data are saved as you go.
13. Once you have entered all your data, click on ‘Finish and return to walk list’12Reviewing the data from your transectsPlease note that data just entered into the system does not appear immediately within the annualsummary. There are two reasons this may happen:1) there is a process that must run every 15 minutes to calculate the summary values and estimates,and 2) there is some caching (storing of calculated summaries) of the data to speed up the page
response times. To bypass the caching, untick the option box below (but beware that the page may
take longer to respond). In the meantime, newly entered data should still be visible in your 'My
Walks' page.
1. In the main menu go to My Data -> Reporting and click on the ‘Annual Report’ tab to show asummary of the transect data. Initially you will see all data for the current year from all sitesthat you have linked to your account. However, there are several options for looking atother summaries or other years.

2. You can change the year by clicking on the black arrows (top left)
3. You can choose to view everyone’s data in the system, or just your own, by using the ‘Filterby recorder’
4. You can choose to view all sites, or individual sites linked to your account, by using ‘Filter bysite’
5. You can use the tabs to view raw data or summary data or include simple estimates formissing weeks. You can also choose to display the information as a chart.
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6. The best way to check through your own data is to select your site from the drop down list
and view ‘raw data’. In this mode, if you spot a mistake that needs to be corrected, you cango directly through to the Data Entry screen for an individual walk by clicking on the date at
the top of the column.
7. You can download your data in a variety of formats via the Downloads tab.

Parnassius apollo
By Chris van Swaay

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