The invention discloses an unmanned aerial vehicle tree diameter measuring method based on an optical flow method. A tree board, an unmanned aerial vehicle and data processing equipment are used as measuring devices to measure and calculate the tree diameter, and the tree board is used for marking the number of a tree and the measuring position of the diameter at breast height; the unmanned aerial vehicle is provided with a monocular lens and an ultrasonic sensor, the monocular lens is used for shooting tree boards and tree trunks, and the ultrasonic sensor is used for keeping the unmanned aerial vehicle and the tree boards at corresponding heights; the data processing equipment is used for planning the route of the unmanned aerial vehicle, detecting tree boards in videos shot by the unmanned aerial vehicle, identifying numbers of the tree boards, and measuring the diameter at breast height of a tree trunk where the tree boards are located based on an optical flow method to complete tree diameter measurement. According to the method, the tree diameter can be measured quickly and accurately in batches in a high-automation mode, the method is easy to operate, manpower and time are greatly saved, the efficiency and accuracy of large-scale tree diameter measurement are improved, a complete tree diameter database is established, management and calling are convenient, and according to the tree diameter measuring and calculating method based on the optical flow method, the calculation precision is guaranteed while only a small number of calculation resources are needed.