Plants around Epwell using the iRecord App

Despite being a member of BSBI since the early 1990s when you almost had to get someone to give you a reference before you could join,  I have made a minimal contribution to the Society's Atlas 2020 recording programme, where minimal equals zero.   Atlas 2020 is a follow up to plant distribution atlases in Britain and Ireland, first prepared in the 1960s and again in 2000.  The north of the county is under-recorded because of a lack of botanists, and frankly because it is actually quite dull.

I am only half a botanist; I can recognise a fair number of plants but know only a few of the scientific names.  Presented with a recording sheet where all the names are abbreviated Latin names is just not something I can cope with.   However the iRecord App makes life much simpler.  Plant lists are easy to create either by inputting common names or the scientific names and of course it automatically stores location data.   I tried it out yesterday on a walk from Sibford Gower to Epwell, two villages to the north of Hook Norton, sticking to paths across fields plus a wander around Epwell.

Ditchedge Lane

 I came up with just under 60 plant species, none of which were noteworthy.   But the App proved effective.  The only downsides were that it was heavy on the phone battery, and I was not able to download my list of plants before I submitted the records to the central database.  Once submitted  a list could then be extracted.

Field Pansy (Viola arvense)

Ivy-leaved Speedwell (Veronica hederifolia)

 Probably the nicest find though was this micromoth, which I think is Agonopterix heracliana.

Agonopterix heracliana