[This dataset is embargoed until August 31, 2024]. This dataset contains information about surface and sub-surface hydraulic and hydrological soil properties across the Thames (UK) catchment. Soil dry bulk density, estimated soil porosity, soil moisture and soil moisture retention (to 100 cm suction) were determined through laboratory analysis of soil samples collected at five depths between the surface and 100 cm below ground level (where possible). Surface soil infiltration rates were measured, and soil saturated hydraulic conductivity was calculated at 25 cm and 45 cm depths (where possible). Field scale point data were collected at seven sites in the Thames Catchment, with three sub-groups of sites under different land use and management practices. The first land management group included three arable fields in the Cotswolds, Gloucestershire, on shallow soils over Limestone with no grass in rotation, herbal leys in rotation or rye and clover in rotation. The second group included two arable fields in near Wantage, Oxfordshire, on free draining loamy soils over chalk with conventional management or controlled traffic. The final group included a permanent grassland and broadleaf woodland on slowly permeable soil over mudstone near Oxford, Oxfordshire. Data were collected in representative infield areas; trafficked areas (e.g. tramlines or animal tracks), and untrafficked margins. Samples and measurements were taken between April 2021 and October 2021, with repeats taken before and after harvest. Soil samples were collected using Eijkelkamp 07.53.SC sample ring kit with closed ring holder and the Edelman auger and Stony auger when required. Infiltration measurements were taken using Mini Disk Infiltrometers. Soil saturated hydraulic conductivity was measured using Guelph permeameters. Soil bulk density and porosity were calculated using oven drying methods. Soil moisture retention was calculated using an Eijelkamp Sandbox. This dataset was collected by UKCEH as part of the 'Land management in lowland catchments for integrated flood risk reduction' (LANDWISE) project. LANDWISE seeks to examine how land use and management can be used to reduce the risk of flooding for communities. LANDWISE is one of three projects comprising the Natural Environment Research Council Natural Flood Management Research Programme. The work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council Grant NE/R004668/1. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/a32f775b-34dd-4f31-aafa-f88450eb7a90

Gridded hydrological model river flow estimates on a 1km grid over Great Britain for the period Dec 1980 - Nov 2080. The dataset includes monthly mean river flow, annual maxima of daily mean river flow (water years Oct to Sept), along with the date of occurrence, and annual minima of 7-day mean river flow (years spanning Dec-Nov), along with the date of occurrence (units: m3/s). The data are provided in gridded netCDF files. There is one file for each variable and ensemble member. To aid interpretation, two additional spatial datasets are provided: a) digitally-derived catchment areas and b) estimated locations of flow gauging stations both on the 1km x 1km grid. The data were produced as part of UK-SCAPE (UK Status, Change And Projections of the Environment; https://ukscape.ceh.ac.uk/, Work Package 2: Case Study - Water) a NERC-funded National Capability Science Single Centre award. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/18be3704-0a6d-4917-aa2e-bf38927321c5

This dataset provides the details of all sites on which butterflies have been monitored as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). This includes all standard UKBMS transect sites, Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) sites and targeted species survey sites (timed counts, single-species transects, larval web and egg counts). Data includes the location within the UK, the length and number of sections for the butterfly transect on each site and the number of years each transect has been monitored. The location of some sites are sensitive and are excluded from this dataset. A full set of UKBMS monitoring sites is available in a separate dataset requested via the UKBMS website. The UKBMS started in 1976 with fewer than 50 sites. Since then the number of sites monitored each year has increased to several thousand. There are year new sites each and a small number where the transect is no longer surveyed. Details of this are provided in the site dataset in the form of the first and last year in which each site was surveyed. The majority of site data is provided by recorders at the time a transect is created. Site data are crucial in order to determine where extra recording effort is required and to investigate where butterfly populations are changing most and thus where conservation should be targeted, including across different habitat types. The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organized and funded by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/f0fb35c7-1983-4b05-b189-4fa128b9c430

Plot-scale percent cover of all plant species recorded between October and December 2019 in 360 1 x 1 m quadrats within two burnt areas of the 2019 Flow Country Wildfire and nearby unburnt control areas and within three additional historic burnt site with recorded wildfires in 1997, 2000 and 2011 respectively and their respective adjacent unburnt controls. At each site, quadrats were located in both “open” and “drain” plots to reflect the potential impact of artificial drainage on vegetation/fire response. For the sites within the footprint of the 2019 wildfire, fire damage data were also collected, only in burnt sites. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/4daf9b1e-c29f-4e38-855c-a68063e8e715

This dataset includes relative surface soil moisture across the Thames Valley, between October 2015 and September 2021, using backscatter radar data collected using the ESA Sentinel-1 Constellation. Radar backscatter was normalised to 40 incidence angle, using a novel monthly normalisation parameterisation. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b23d63d1-dcc5-4c49-a6b5-67154f3739b7

The dataset contains dissolved greenhouse and nutrient data collected from seven UK estuaries: the Clyde, Clywd, Conwy, Dart, Forth, Tamar and Tay, for the LOCATE project. Sampling was conducted from July 2017 to April 2018 on a quarterly basis, and was coordinated to occur on falling tides and to target specific salinities of interest: 1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 25 psu. Data were obtained via collection of gas and water samples in situ, and concentrations were derived via subsequent sample processing and analysis. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/328cacca-c33b-450a-a39c-302b4eed07a2

[THIS DATASET HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN]. This dataset contains samples and occurrences of insects and flowers collected for the 1 km square survey of the UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme (PoMS). It covers the years 2017 to 2020 (note that 2017 was a pilot year and has less data than subsequent years). This survey uses pan-traps positioned on transects within a randomly allocated set of 1 km squares in England, Scotland and Wales. The sample data contains information on the location of the traps, various environmental variables, and the total number of insect specimens collected. The occurrence data for insects contains records of all hoverflies and bees from the traps, identified (wherever possible) to species level. The occurrence data for flowers contains records of all forbs that are in flower within 2 metres of each pan-tap station. (In addition, Flower-Insect Timed Counts are carried out in the same 1 km squares, see separate dataset for these data.) The UK Pollinator Monitoring Scheme is a partnership between the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, Butterfly Conservation, British Trust for Ornithology, Hymettus, Natural History Museum, University of Reading and University of Leeds, working with the Bees, Wasps and Ants Recording Society, wider stakeholders and volunteer networks. PoMS in 2017-2020 has been jointly funded by Defra, the Welsh and Scottish Governments, JNCC and project partners. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/06cc6b8f-9bd4-4ae4-af5d-65bcbd319e9f

Collated indices are a relative measure of butterfly abundance across sites monitored as part of the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme. Data from all survey sites (standard UKBMS transects, Wider Countryside Survey transects and targeted species surveys such as timed, larval web and egg counts) are used in the calculation of these indices. The statistics are presented as log10 values. These values are centred round an arbitrary value of 2 as a mean for the time series in order to help show which years are below or above average. Collated indices are calculated annually for each individual butterfly species that has been recorded on five or more sites in that year. Indices are calculated at UK level and at individual country level for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland where sufficient data are available. Based on this criterion, collated indices have been calculated for the entire time series from 1976 (UK, England and Wales), 1979 (Scotland) and 2004 (Northern Ireland) to the current year for the majority of species, but for some rarer species this has not been possible in some years, particular those in the first part of the time series. Collated indices are calculated using a log-linear model incorporating individual site indices from all monitored sites across the UK or country for a given species in a given year. The number of sites for each species ranges from 5 to several hundred or more and fluctuates from year to year. By 2010 almost 2,000 sites were monitored in total across the UK, with this number rising to more than 3,000 over the next decade. Collated indices are calculated so that we can determine how butterfly populations are changing over time across the UK. This data can be used, for example, to determine where to target conservation efforts and more generally the condition of the UK countryside. Butterflies are recognised as important indicators of biodiversity and environmental change, for example in UK and country Biodiversity Indicators, and have been used in numerous studies of the impacts of climate and habitat change on biodiversity. The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organized and funded by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/f00fb86d-25c2-4f98-b882-c661511c93ac

[THIS DATASET HAS BEEN WITHDRAWN]. Dataset contains water chemistry data (pH, conductivity, dissolved carbon, dissolved gases, absorbance) from natural and artificial/restoration peat pools in Scottish peatlands. Water samples were collected seasonally from three sites, and more frequently (up to weekly) from one site, within the Flow Country. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/J007609/1 Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/e27124dd-aef2-4fa8-b90d-32b782e21ff7

This dataset comprises individual site indices for UK butterfly species calculated from data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme (UKBMS). Site indices are a relative rather than an absolute measure of the size of a population, and have been shown to relate closely to other, more intensive, measures of population size such as mark, release, recapture (MRR) methods. The site index can be thought of as a relative measure of the population size, being a more or less constant proportion of the number of butterflies present. The proportion seen is likely to vary according to species; some butterfly species are more conspicuous and thus more easily detected, whereas others are much less easy to see. Site indices are only calculated at sites with sufficient monitoring visits throughout the season, or for targeted reduced effort surveys (timed observations, larval web counts and egg counts) where counts are generally obtained as close to the peak of the flight period as possible and are subsequently adjusted for the time of year and size of the site (area of suitable habitat type for a given species). Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey (WCBS) sites are thus excluded because they are based on very few visits from which indices of abundance are not calculated. For transect sites, a statistical model (a General Additive Model, 'GAM') is used to impute missing values and to calculate a site index. Each year most transect sites (over 90%) produce an index for at least one species and in recent years site indices have been calculated for over 2,000 sites across the UK. Site indices are subsequently collated to contribute to the overall 'Collated Index' for each species, which are relative measures of the abundance of each species across a geographical area, for example, across the whole UK or at country level for England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Individual site indices are important in informing conservation management as not all sites show the same patterns for each species and likely reflect a combination of local climate and habitat management at the site. The UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme is organized and funded by Butterfly Conservation (BC), the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (UKCEH), the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO), and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC). The UKBMS is indebted to all volunteers who contribute data to the scheme. This work was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council award number NE/R016429/1 as part of the UK-SCAPE programme delivering National Capability. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/b77561d8-20ee-45ad-9221-7a8885d5ac8e