BSBI Summer Meeting: typing up the recording cards

John Faulkner, BSBI President (on right) &
David Morris, County Recorder for Oxfordshire
at the BSBI Summer Meeting 2017
Image: P. Spencer-Vellacott

As we heard yesterday in Shane's post about digitising biological records, wherever there are botanists in the field, recording cards are sure to follow, and the BSBI Annual Summer Meeting (ASM) was no different! 

Over to organiser Jon Shanklin, now back in Cambridge:

"The hard part of the ASM has started and I'm about half way through typing up the record cards that I have. So far I've typed in 1468 records from ten sheets, and most cards have had new post 2000 hectad records. Quite a few have included plants rare in the county, and there have been some new post 2000 county records. Prize in this respect so far goes to my group which had the nice day at the seaside, with eight.

Gronant Dunes, one of the field excursions
 during the BSBI Summer Meeting 2017
Image: L. Gravestock 

"However I only have post 2000 county records on my computer, so it remains to be seen how many new species we've actually found. I've also had quite a lot of help from other recorders who between them have already typed in a couple of thousand records and there are more to come. Thank you! Once the typing is complete the records will be sent to the county recorder for verification and incorporation in the BSBI DDb.

"Some of the records are probably artifacts - I was quite surprised to find Carex caryophylla and Helianthemum numularium as new to Graig Fawr, but perhaps the records were never submitted. Some finds were quite strange, for example Convollaria majalis on the dunes - there are only two other locations in the county shown in the Flora.

"I suspect that it will take me at least another week to finish the typing as I am now back in my vice-county Cambridgeshire, where I am one of two County Recorders. So in the diary for the next few days are: a Cambridge Natural History Society meeting; the CNHS Conversazione; an astronomy talk on Saturday; and an outing with Cambridgeshire Flora Group. As always, in my 'spare time' I’ll be out recording in spare moments for Atlas2020!"