You don't need to be an expert to take part, if you can tell a Dandelion from a Daisy or a Hazel from a Holly then you can enjoy getting out into the countryside and help the conservation of wild plants at the same time. Without this information we cannot tell what is common and what is rare and, if we don't know where it is, we can't protect it.

You can help by recording the flora of your local area (or further afield in the County if you wish) and sending the list(s) in to me at the S.B.R.C. where the records will be computerised and used to generate the atlas.

When you record, make a list for each separate distinct site (e.g. wood, meadow, common, stretch of riverbank etc.) and provide a grid reference or sketch map of the location. Try and cover each of the different habitats in your area - woodland, grassland (roadside verges and 'green lanes'), arable fields, heathland, marshes and aquatic habitats such as rivers, streams and ponds. Don't omit rough waste ground which can often add many interesting plants, odd weeds, garden escapes and aliens waiting to invade the wider countryside! It may take several visits at different times of year to find all the plants at a site - just add new ones to the list rather than starting a new list and record the dates that you visited each site.

Quite a lot of recording has already been done so to avoid duplication don't record from nature reserves, county wildlife sites, protected roadside verges (marked with white N.R. posts) or churchyards - all of which have been covered to some extent recently. This still leaves vast tracts of unsurveyed countryside to look at and, no doubt, some important plants waiting to be discovered. You have a great advantage over a surveyor from elsewhere in your knowledge of the local area and of how to get access to good sites. Please get permission from the owner if you are visiting private land. It may help if you explain the purpose of the survey, most landowners will be happy to co-operate.

Aim to record as many of the wild plants in each area as possible

There are two rules:-

Try and use unambiguous names for the plants you record and, if there is confusion, use the latin name. You can find latin names in most wildflower books. If you are familiar with latin names there is a 'tick card' with most common species listed in abbreviated form e.g. 'Achil mil' for Yarrow and 'Digit pur' for Foxglove. These take a little practice to use but are much quicker to process. An English name version is also available listing most common species in Suffolk.

All contributions to this survey, large or small, will be of value and help to build up a picture of the current status of our flora.

Work in Suffolk is being co-ordinated from the Biological Records Centre at Ipswich Borough Council Museum. The Centre already has nearly 500,000 plant records on computer but more are needed to ensure even coverage of the county. Send your records to:

Tel: 01473 433547

Number of Common (found in more than 300 tetrads) species by tetrad (2 x 2 km square)

This map gives a good idea of the coverage of records that have been computerised so far. There is still a great deal of work to do before we achieve even coverage of the County.