FAQ - Frequently asked questions
- How do you pick which square to do?
- Anyone is welcome to record in any of the listed squares, so you can pick whichever square(s) you like.
- How do you know if a square has been covered already?
- Ideally we would like each square to be surveyed by more than one recorder and at different times of the season, so it does not matter if someone else has made a list in the square already. The website will be updated with progress to date, including which squares have been covered, but there will inevitably be some delays in getting all of this information up to date. At the end of the year we will have a better idea of which squares have been covered well and which are still unrecorded. That will help us in targeting where to concentrate on in the following year.
- If you do a square do you have to survey it every year?
- No, one year is enough, although ideally each square would be surveyed at different times of the survey season in order to pick up both spring plants and late-flowering plants.
- I don’t know how to identify grasses and sedges. Are my records still useful?
- Yes, we are interested in any species that you can confidently identify. Beginners often find species that the experts overlook. Either they visit the site at different times of year or they visit places that “experts” may have dismissed as uninteresting.
- Do we have to enter the records in a computer?
- We are happy to receive records in any format, on paper, on excel spreadsheets or via biological recording software such as Mapmate.
- Where do we send the records?
- Send the records via post or email to your vice-county recorder
- If the square is in a built up area with little or no semi-natural habitat do we still do it?
- Yes, it is important that urban squares are covered just as much as rural squares. Urban squares can often be relatively diverse. Look out for street weeds, wastelands and small patches of weedy land as well as parks and riversides, etc. The distribution of plants in these types of habitats can undergo quite dramatic changes so we need good information on wild plants in these areas.
- Do we record plants growing wild in gardens?
- Usually we recommend only recording plants that have self-sown or spread outside of gardens and formally-managed landscaped areas. This is a grey areas for example where large gardens have been partly allowed to go ‘wild’. Also, some plants are only common as weeds in garden and lawns. If in doubt, describe the habitat and clearly mark which species were found only in these areas.
- Do we record mature trees that have probably been planted originally?
- Trees that occur in plantations should be recorded, but mark the record with a ’p’ to indicate that only planted examples were recorded. We're interested in these trees because they have a significant impact on the habitat. If you also find self-sown seedlings, saplings or young trees of the same species, then just cross the ‘p’ out to indicate that it was growing wild. Many commonly planted trees can eventually become part of semi-natural vegetation so it is important that we collect data on these species. If there are just a few individuals of specimen trees in a landscaped area which have not self-sown, then you do not need to record these.
- What do we do if the square has little public access?
- If you have an idea who owns any of the land you can explain what the survey is about to them and ask them for permission to access the land. Many landowners are welcoming and can often direct you to interesting sites for plants. If a sqaure proves inaccessible we will randomly allocate a replacement square.
- Are you interested in records from other squares?
- Yes, absolutely, the randomly selected squares will help us to correct for the geographic bias due to the inaccessibility of some squares. However, we will be able to combine these data with other records in the final analysis.
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