2023 County Report for North Hampshire

Tony Mundell

5,163 records for VC12 have been entered so far on MapMate for 2023. This year I have concentrated on quality rather than quantity, with most records involving trying to re-find particular scarce species.

In Hampshire we have revived the BSBI Threatened Plant Project that ran for 2008-2013, using the same very detailed recording form. I was out with a few others from March to September, completing 80 forms. Before each outing I prepared detailed maps, one for each site to be visited, showing the precise locations of previous records of the chosen rare species, concentrating on relatively recent records that included an 8-figure grid reference. Those locations were pre-loaded onto my GPS as numbered waypoints also marked on the maps, so all could be visited in turn using the GPS ‘GoTo’ facility. The TPP form allows the plants not re-found to be recorded as well as those found. Often the reason for an apparent loss was clear with the lack of sympathetic management, typically with heathland invaded by Gorse or Bracken.

I also led a few weekend meetings for members of the Hampshire Flora Group (see https://www.hantsplants.uk/ ) and did a few surveys requested by landowners. A separate project involved recording every single 8-figure grid ref for 14 uncommon plants at one particular SSSI that I have known well since 1975.

We have a newsletter called Flora News that can be downloaded from the website above. The last few pages of every issue have detailed records, sometimes with photos, of interesting plants.