All records from our flora recording are also sent to the BSBI to be included in their Hectad and Tetrad mapping schemes which map the distribution of species across the whole of the U.K.. These maps can be viewed by going to the BSBI web site home page www.bsbi.org.uk and clicking on the "Distribution Maps" link at the top right. This takes you to the Hectad mapping page where you can either enter the name of the species you wish to view or select a species by browsing through a list. There is also a link to the Tetrad mapping from this page which operates in the same way but shows dots at a tetrad resolution.

To get a general picture of how Sussex fits into the National distribution pattern of a species the Hectad mapping seems to work best and also has the advantage that it shows records colour coded by date class so you can see the date class of the latest record in a particular hectad. For a more detailed view of the distribution use the tetrad mapping but this data is not date coded so you will see all records no matter how old they are. Also, the initial map shows the whole country so the tetrad dots are very small and isolated tetrads are hard to see. Use the zoom buttons on the upper left side to zoom in and out. You can move around the map using the mouse by holding down the right mouse button.

For those of you with Google Earth installed there is also a facility to send the tetrad data to Google Earth so you can view the tetrads where a species is recorded superimposed on the Google Earth images. Note: If you want to install Google Earth there is also a link on the tetrad map page to the Google Earth web page where you can download and install it.

If you want to get an impression of the special place Sussex has in the National distribution of a number of species try looking at the following distribution maps to see how removed our sites are from the areas where the majority of records occur: Festuca altissima, Sibthorpia europaea or Wahlenbergia hederacea.

9th November 2009: Information from autumn get-together

The presentation given at the Autumn Get-together on the progress of our flora recording is abvailable for download. See item 11. on the Downloads page.

Note that only a list of interesting records has been included - the pictures of some of those species shown at the meeting have been removed to keep the file size at a reasonable level.

Following Barry Yates excellent talk on the Flowers of Rye Harbour Nature Reserve remember that there is a link to the reserve web site (which gives loads of information on wildlife, walks and loads more) and also a new link to a website giving wildlife sightings in the Rye area in the Sussex Links section of the Links page.

30th September 2009: Extra information on areas needing more recording

New update (October 12th) available.
As we are getting toward the end of the recording period for the New Flora it is important to target recording effort into those areas which need it most. In addition to the tetrads with lower record numbers which can be identified in the map on the New Flora of Sussex page of the web site there are also tetrads where we have significantly fewer records than were recorded in the Sussex Plant Atlas. A Word file containing a map showing these tetrads is now available: - Download now...

Please note: The data in this map will not be updated as frequently as that in the map on the web site. A note will appear here when a revised version is available.

14th September 2009: Another update of Excel record card

Another updated version of the Excel record card is available for download, see item 7. on the Downloads page. The only change since the last update is a further addition species to the third column. If anyone finds they are having to manually add species not in the list more than once or twice let me know and it will be included in future updates.

14th April 2009: Unexpected Ranunculus

We have had an unexpected record for Ranunculus aquatalis which has been found in a ditch and pond NW of Partridge Green. The Sussex Plant Atlas (SPA) describes this species as "occasional, locally frequent" so you might think this is no surprise. However it seems that the records in SPA were mostly in error or a result of using Ranunculus aquatalis as an aggregate name for a group of aquatic Ranunculus species. In the last 15 years or so we have had no confirmed records for this species and we were beginnig to think it was absent from Sussex but that appears not to be the case although it is certainly very rare. The most characteristic features of this species are the combination of circular nectar pits at the base of the petals, the presence of both capillary and laminar leaves and the shape of the laminar leaves which are deeply cut and have dentate rather than crenate margins as shown in the image below.