Hants Plants Electronic Recording Form

Important rubric

By submitting your plant records, you agree that:

• The BSBI recorders in Hampshire may hold your records on databases, pass them to third parties (including the Hampshire Biodiversity Centre and the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust) and use them in publications.
• The records may be passed to the BSBI nationally, where they may be used in national recording schemes and made available through the National Biodiversity Network gateway.

Download the form

Recording Form spreadsheet template

PLEASE READ THE FOLLOWING NOTES BEFORE USING THE FORM FOR THE FIRST TIME

General notes on using the form

This form comes as an Excel spreadsheet template, and so there is a presumption that you have Microsoft Excel, Sun StarOffice or OpenOffice on your computer. When time permits, we shall put up a fully interactive Web recording form for use if you don't have this software. When you open the spreadsheet, you will probably be prompted whether to enable macros. The answer is 'Yes', if you want to use the buttons to email it back to us.

Depending on the Web browser you are using and how it is configured, you may be able to open the form directly within your browser and fill it in online. Otherwise you can save it for subsequent use on your computer.

The first line of records that is already filled in, is there simply as an example and you should remove it before sending your records back.

You can use the form for sending records for South Hampshire (vice-county 11), North Hampshire (vice-county 12), and those bits of administrative Hampshire that are in vice-county 8 (South Wiltshire). Please don't send records for other parts of Wiltshire. Ideally, we would like a separate sheet submitted for South (8 and 11) and North (12) Hants; but if you aren't certain or find this a problem, don't worry - just send it to the South Hants recorder.

Please make sure that you don't send the same records more than once to either of us.

The parts of the sheet marked in cream are where an entry is required. (But only of course in rows where you are entering a record.) You must fill in the Name of the submitter and a Contact email address. We will not accept sheets without the email address, as we need a point of contact in case of queries. We shall not pass this on to a third party, or use it except in communications about Hampshire botany.

Filling in the columns

Scientific Name: this is most important as it is the best means of stating the identity of the plant. Names change, but if you use the names in

• Rose and O'Reilly, The Wild Flower Key 2nd edition (2006),
• Fitter and Fitter, Wild Flowers of Britain & Ireland (2003),
• Stace, New Flora of the British Isles (1997)
• Stace, Field Flora of the British Isles (1999)

Common Name: this isn't strictly necessary, but if you give the common name as well as the scientific name it helps us ensure that you chose the right plant.

Please use a Site name or description that relates to a named feature on the Ordnance Survey 1:25,000 or 1:50,000 maps (or, in built-up areas, the Ordnance Survey Street Atlas). Keep it fairly brief and include the parish if you know it (eg 'NW of Pigwhistle Farm, Ropley'), but don't include habitat details here.

The Gridref should be an Ordnance Survey grid reference in the form with a two-letter prefix, as shown in the example. You can specify either to the nearest 1km (eg 'SU4317'), the nearest 100m (eg 'SU434176'), or, if you used a GPS, the nearest 10m (eg 'SU43481762'). No spaces or any other detail, please. And for Hampshire the letter codes will always be 'SZ' (southern coastal fringe) or 'SU' (all the rest).

Vice County: there is a drop-down list to select from. If you are not sure, leave this blank.

Recorder: this should be the person who actually made the observation. Our preferred form for names is 'Surname, comma, title (if not Mr.), initials'. For example, 'Presley, E', 'Beckham, Ms. V M' or 'Loyola, Fr. I'.

Determiner: if the person who made the observation also identified the plant, you can leave this blank. If the identification was made by an expert or colleague, their name should go here.

Date: use the date format shown in the example. (If you use any legitimate date form it will automatically convert to that format.) But if you only know the month you can use the form '00/10/2006', and if you only know the year you can use the form '00/00/2006'.

The Quantity has to be a number, or left blank. Blank and '0' both mean 'Present' - not 'Absent' or 'Not found'! Don't use text like 'Abundant' or 'A patch 2m x 3m'; such detail should go in the Comment column. However you can use the following special codes:

• -1: Dominant
• -2: Abundant
• -3: Frequent
• -4: Occasional
• -5: Rare
• -6: Very Rare
• -7: Not Found

Method: this is a drop-down list, and refers to the primary means of observation from which the record was made. For instance, if you saw the plant growing in the wild but also took a photograph, the right Method is 'Field record / observation'. On the other hand, if you identified and recorded the plant from a photograph and notes that someone sent you, the right method is 'Photograph'.

Sex can be left blank and will be irrelevant for the majority of plants seen, in any case.

Stage is the growth stage of the plant. Use the drop-down list or leave blank if this is unclear.

Status is the status (indigenous or otherwise) at the site given. Use the drop-down list or, if in doubt, leave blank rather than guess.

Comment can include any other details that you think are interesting and relevant to the record. For instance:

• More details on the size of the population;
• More details on the extent of the population;
• A description of the site and how to locate it;
• Notes on the physical environment;
• Notes on the plant community (what it is growing with);
• Any unusual or puzzling features of the plant;
• Any special identification methods or features you used;
• Any notes on the persistence of the plant at this site;
• Any threats to the population.

Finally...

Thanks to Martin Harvey, formerly of Hampshire and Isle of Wight Wildlife Trust, for the original version of this spreadsheet. All errors introduced by later changes are the sole responsibility of the BSBI Recorder for South Hampshire and should be notified to him.