Article 1 1996

Worcestershire Record No. 1 1996 p. 1

THE WORCESTERSHIRE FLORA PROJECT
by R.Maskew

The possibility of conducting a Worcestershire Flora Survey was first discussed by myself and John Day in 1985. After a further two years of much discussion and planning the Worcestershire Flora Project was set up in 1987 to produce a new county flora which records and maps the distribution of all the native and alien species of flowering plants, ferns and horsetails occurring in Worcestershire.

The previous Flora was published in 1909 and is now hopelessly out of date. Land use has changed greatly since that time, and the rate of change has accelerated in the past thirty years with a revolution in farming practices. It is therefore imperative that we have a full knowledge of the state of our flora, especially with regard to rare and endangered species.

Initially around a hundred people were contacted who we hoped might help us with the recording. An inaugural meeting was held in April 1987.

It was decided to make the recording unit a tetrad (2km x 2km), and that each 10km square would be controlled by a co-ordinator who would be responsible for organising the field recording and record keeping for their square. As field recording cards already available were considered unsuitable, a specific Worcestershire card was designed. On the reverse of the A4 card approximately 900 species are listed, including aliens, certain sub-species, with some critical groups represented by a single entry under the aggregate name.

Records of species which are considered either rare or difficult to identify are accompanied by full details. This information is written in columns on the front of the card i.e. six figure grid references, locality, habitat etc. These details are finally transferred onto a 10km square species card.

To date we have over 180,000 records and this figure could well reach around 220,000. It is expected to take another three or four years to complete the recording.

Our present need is for computer hardware. This large mass of information now needs to be transferred to computer disc for storage, retrieval, analysis and publishing purposes.

With this in mind the Worcestershire Flora Project became a registered charity in 1995. Over the last six months an attempt to raise the necessary funds has been made and a number of potential donors contacted. We are awaiting results.

It is proposed to produce a full-scale hardback publication. This will be in two main parts. Firstly, introductory chapters covering subjects including geology and soil, climate, history of botanical recording, species habitats and associated plant communities. The second part will cover the species accounts which will be fairly brief for common species, but much fuller for scarce and critical plants, to include details on habitat, frequency and distribution, temporal changes etc.

The addition of dot maps showing a clear picture of distribution will be given for the majority of the less common species and included with the text. It has been decided to adopt the Recorder and D Map software packages.

Such a thorough examination of the County’s flora is a long term undertaking. We intend to publish not later than the year 2005.

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Worcestershire Record No. 1 1996 p. 2

DRAGONFLY RECORDING IN WORCESTERSHIRE

By Mike Averill

A brief review of the history of dragonfly recording in Worcestershire showed there were few records available for comparison of the past situation with that in 1986. This demonstrated the need for a complete survey, and this ran from 1986-1995.

Using a detailed recording card, quality information was gathered and from this proof of breeding and abundance was ascertained.

The sort of analyses possible from the survey results were distribution maps, number of species per site, flight periods, and coincidence of species with other parameters such as habitat, altitude and water quality.

185 recorders sent in information, but only 21 submitted more than 20 records and they contributed 89% of all records.

The initial survey of dragonflies in Worcestershire is complete and the results published in The Dragonflies of Worcestershire , but this is not the end of recording and I appeal for records to keep coming in!

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Worcestershire Record No. 1 1996 p. 3

THE DRAGONFLIES OF WORCESTERSHIRE

Written and published by Mike Averill.

A5 ringbound, 81 pages, 20 colour photographs, distribution maps and diagrams. £10 plus £1 post and packing. Available from Mike Averill, 25 Oakhill Avenue, Kidderminster, DY10 1LZ.
This attractive little book is surely a must for everyone interested in the natural history of Worcestershire. It contains information on dragonfly life cycles, a checklist of British Dragonflies, the survey and the status of recording today. Then follow two-page spreads about each species, in turn followed by notes on flight periods, an identification key to adults in Worcestershire, anatomy, a glossary and references.

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Worcestershire Record No. 1 1996 p. 2

Lepidoptera Recorring Scheme for Hereford and Worcestershire

by Tony Simpson

Since 1992 I have been acting as Worcestershire recorder for the National Lepidoptera Scheme run by Paul Waring and with Dr Michael Harper, who is the Herefordshire recorder, I have been collecting records, both personally and from a number of recorders, for all Moths and Butterflies, including the smaller moths (microlepidoptera) from Watsonian Vice-county 37 (Worcestershire). I have inherited all the late Jack Green’s records and I have been looking at old literature records and specimens in the Worcester Museum many of which date from Victorian times.

The last Lepidoptera lists published for either county were the Victoria County History ones just after the turn of the century. Therefore there is obviously a need to publish modern lists which look likely to be out around the millenium – about one hundred years after the last ones!

After the Great War there seems to have been very little recording in the inter-war years, but there has been a steadily increasing amount of interest in all our Natural History and we hope to be able to give a reasonably good account of the status and distribution of our Lepidoptera over the last quarter of the century, as well as being able to illustrate the many changes in the fauna over the past hundred years, mostly unfortunately not for the better!

We now have a huge number of records on a card index system and it may be necessary to computerise these, and the present interest in millenium funds to get a Biological Recording Scheme off the ground may be helpful here. We are looking at about 1300 species of Lepidoptera in the county, so the amount of data is formidable, but there would be great conservation benefit to be able to readily identify the sites and status of rare and unusual species, both nationally and locally. Such information would help the Wildlife Trusts, English Nature, and all the bodies involved in Planning when it came to trying to conserve what is left of our countryside. Although information is available on Vertebrates and Botany little notice is taken of Invertebrate conservation at present, often because unless it involves some showy Butterfly, there is little or no information. Also changes in status and distribution of invertebrates are often a good indicators of environmental and climatic change and sometimes of impending disaster!

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