Common Plants Survey

Common Plants Survey 2009

What is the Common Plants Survey?

The Common Plants Survey is a long-term project monitoring changes to the wild flowers in our countryside. It is the only national annual survey of wild plants in the UK. Its success rests entirely on volunteers.

How to get involved

©Simon Williams /Plantlife

The 2009 survey is already signed up and underway.

However, if you would like to get involved you can register for the 2010 Common Plant Survey now by simply clicking the link below.

When the survey gets underway in spring 2010, we will send you our free information pack containing full details on how to take part.

Common Plants Survey workshops

The following workshops will be taking place this year:

Thurs 23rd July, 10.30am-3pm, Corfe Mullen, Wimborne, Dorset. Common Plants Survey introduction. Come along to learn more about Plantlife and how to undertake the Common Plants Survey. The morning will be an indoor session and the afternoon spent out on the heath seeing what we can find. Please bring a packed lunch. All welcome. To book, please phone Bex on 07946 841322 or email becky.house@plantlife.org.uk.

return to top>>

Aim of the Common Plants Survey

The Common Plants Survey aims to build up a picture of the health of our countryside. Often, common species have been undervalued as attention has been focused on rare flora.

However, common plants play pivotal roles in ecosystems, providing habitats and food for our fauna.

As such, they are the foundation upon which the rest of our wildlife depends. They can therefore be used as indicators and help us gain an insight as to the health of our countryside.

This is an ambitious project and we need your help to carry it through. Volunteers are not only important in providing data, but also in providing feedback and enabling us to develop a robust methodology. Please join us and play a vital part in our survey.

We have carefully chosen a set of 65 of the UK's common plants that are both easy to identify, such as Primrose, and indicative of particular habitats, such as ancient woodlands. We ask participants to look for these plants in two small plots (5m x 5m and 1m x 20m) situated within a randomly selected 1km squares close to where they live, work, or frequently visit. By surveying these random squares each year, we hope to build up a picture of the state of the British countryside.

Random 1km squares are allocated because otherwise people might only survey areas where they know many of the 65 plants grow. Though this would be useful data, it would provide too rosy an outlook and not an accurate picture of the state of our common plants and their habitats.

return to top>>