The Essex Naturalist
59
because they were confined to south-east England, and for some of them we had
hundreds of Essex sites. Fortunately, in 1991, the then Nature Conservancy Council
was persuaded to give me a contract to compile a Red Data Computer File for the
county, of the distribution of all the National Red Data Book, BSBI Scarce Plants
and Local Essex Plants, together with individual recommendations for their
conservation. This provided the impetus to get the records onto PC-based files.
These files include historical records, from the Essex Naturalist, The London Naturalist
and Gibson's Flora, as well as numerous other publications and herbaria.
The Atlas 2000 project, organised by the BSBI to re-map the Pteridophytes,
Gymnosperms and Angiosperms of the British Isles on a 10 x 10 km square basis, got
off to a late start, and once again we are involved in a mad rush, this time to re-map
the rest of our 10 x 10 km squares outside the Colchester Natural History Society area,
(34!) by next year. Rather than simply concentrate on the BSBI scheme however, our
newly formed Botany Group decided two years ago, to make the 1 x 1 km square
recording of the county our priority, and use the data as spin off for the Atlas 2000
project. National recording schemes are all very well, but they have delayed progress
on the Third Essex Flora for far too long, and it is time that we concentrated our efforts
on the project. This past three years we have therefore been concentrating on visiting
every monad in a selection of 10 x 10 km squares. Fortunately, for much of the British
Isles, only records in the interval 1970-86 will be available, and therefore many of
Stanley's records will suffice for Atlas 2000 for those squares we are unable to cover
thoroughly in the time available. Many of the less common species have been re-
recorded for these squares in any case, and so it should be possible for us to mount last
minute trips to score most of the common species for outstanding squares. Within the
CNHS area, squares in which the records were largely made between 1980 and 1986
are being recorded so that they can go into the post-1987 category, and additional
information is being gathered on the rare and scarce species.
By April 1997, members of the Botany Group had sent in lists for 321 of the non-
CNHS 1 x 1 km squares, and by the end of February 1998 this had increased to 573.
Since 17 of the 34 non-CNHS 10 x 10 km squares are marginal, and only contribute
a total of about 800 monads between them, we have a total of around 2500 monads
to visit. Thus we have visited almost a quarter of the total number, although of
course many of the squares will need revisiting to bring the totals up to a minimum
of about 200 taxa for comparability. The first interim part of the Third Flora of Essex
covering the charophyte records, appeared in Essex Naturalist 14: 115 - 142 and work
has begun on the next part covering the liverworts of Essex. Unfortunately, most of
my spare botanical time for the rest of this year, will have to be spent indoors making
out the Excel files for the Atlas 2000 project.
References
Good, R., 1948. A geographical handbook of the Dorset Flora. Dorchester.
Tarpey, T. & Heath, J., 1990. Wild Flowers of North East Essex. Colchester Natural History-
Society.
Jermyn, S. T. & Adams, K. J., 1974. Flora of Essex. Essex Naturalists' Trust.