Take the spring flower survey to help learn more
SPRING flowers are in bloom at present and as part of a nationwide survey you are invited to submit information about where they grow in your locality.
Last year, in a joint project with the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland, the Waterford-based National Biodiversity Data Centre carried out a survey aimed at improving our knowledge of the distribution of fourteen of our most common and easily recognisable spring flowers.
The survey was a great success with over two thousand records received. These records were converted into maps. Several gaps appeared on the maps raising the question: do spring flowers no longer grow in the areas or it is a case that nobody has reported them from these areas recently?
The fourteen species in question are all believed to be common and widespread so the answer to the above question is more likely to be that nobody has reported them recently. To clarify matters the National Biodiversity Data Centre is conducting the survey again this year and anyone interested in wild flowers is invited to get involved and to contribute to the project.
The fourteen species are as follows in alphabetical order: Bluebell, Common Dog-violet, Cowslip, Early Dog-violet, Early-purple Orchid, Lady’s smock (Cuckooflower), Lesser Celandine, Lordsand-Ladies, Primrose, Toothwort, Wild Garlic, Winter Heliotrope, Wood Anemone and Wood Sorrel.
How many of the fourteen do you know? If you don’t know some of the them the National Biodiversity Data Centre website has photographs of them all together with notes on their identification, habitat and maps showing both their known distribution ranges and the results of last year’s survey.
So, I couldn’t be easier to get involved and to record whether Bluebells, Primroses, violets and other spring flowers grow in your neck of the woods.
The organisers hope to increase the number of records submitted last year and to improve the coverage of each species in 2017. By focussing on just fourteen common species the survey aims to encourage everyone to get involved. For those more experienced in plant recording, the organisers would, of course, be equally grateful for records of any other wild plants spotted this spring.
The survey is an online one and all the details are at http:// www.biodiversityireland.ie/ under the ‘Projects’ and ‘Vascular Plants’ tabs. Further information regarding the survey may be obtained by contacting Dr Úna FitzPatrick, Ecologist at the National Biodiversity Data Centre on (051) 306 240.