Tuesday 27 January 2015

The numbers game

Numbers so far from recording have been beyond expectations, with 18 new species recorded and a couple of groups getting close to targets, albeit a low target for lichens!

Lichens, bryophytes and fungi can all be re-focussed towards the end of the year, but I'd like to be at 50 for fungi before end of February, leaving an easier run-in to 100 from autumn. I only hoped to get 75 bryophytes this year, and already getting close with some easy and common species un-recorded. Additionally I hadn't anticipated adding new species quite so easily at this time of year. Long may it continue.

It seems reasonable to expect that the overall target of over 100 fungi species will be achieved fairly easily. Vascular plants, standing at 275, are tantalisingly close to the 300, so I'll be re-doubling efforts in that area. Not sure I can make it this year, but I'll give it a bash. Mostly I think this will be accomplished by covering all the territory at least once a month. Unexplored corners often yield the most unexpected results.

Those taxa which are already romping ahead will soon be de-emphasised in favour of pushing up the counts on creepy crawlies, especially since I took possession of an uber-sweep net from SWT yesterday. I'll be having beetle and fly headaches before I know it.

The counts so far:


Taxon Group Records Taxa
bird 43 39
conifer 1 1
crustacean 1 1
fern 1 1
flowering plant 69 61
fungus 42 34
insect - true fly (Diptera) 1 1
lichen 4 4
liverwort 12 10
moss 63 51
terrestrial mammal 1 1

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