Start a new survey

Use this type of survey for structured coverage of a grid-square or site. Occurrences will be assigned to the specified site name and square but can be given more precise grid-references individually.

A new survey should be started for each new square and for each new day, but it's possible to duplicate the details of the current survey to save time (use the link at the bottom of the occurrences list). For tetrad surveying you can select a monad sub-division using the menu at the top of the occurrence list.

Entering the survey form

The first step is to complete the survey information. We will work through each field in the form below.

Once you have competed the survey form, click the next >> button to proceed to the entry of individual plant records.

Recorders

Please list at least one individual primary recorder.

Place name

Please enter a site, town or village name - the grid reference is entered separately.

Survey grid-square

To use grid references derived from your mobile device's GPS, make sure GPS is enabled if prompted.

Detail about the grid reference provided by GPS is shown as part of the list of records, along with an error radius. In the example below. the grid reference will be passed to the DDb in full, but in mapping queries would be treated as a 100m square (since the radius 11m is greater than a 10m square). Only edit the precision of an automatically assigned reference if the GPS-assigned location is erroneous.

You can also enter grid references directly into the textbox, or type a place name or postcode. Place names or postcodes used here will be converted into a grid reference (rather than the place name field below, which is intended as a text field).

You can also use the map to identify a grid reference, zooming in as required to get the appropriate level of accuracy.

Survey sample unit

Select the required sample unit from the pull down. If you select a tetrad survey, you can select a monad sub-division for each record using the menu at the top of the occurrence list.

Vice-county

This will be automatically assigned by default based on the grid reference.

Date

This will default to the current date, but can be manually adjusted as required.

Is this a comprehensive survey?

Please select the appropriate option from the pull-down box:

Locality notes

For example, notes linked to the site or habitat.

Survey comments

General comments about the survey, rather than notes at occurrence level.

Site / habitat overview photos

On desktop, you will be able to click a single icon to browse for existing photos.

On mobile devices, you can either take a new photo, or browse for existing photos.

Survey attributes

Please select from the list of options as required.

Once you have selected an option, you will be able to specific a value:

Entry of plant records

If you have selected a tetrad sample size, you will see a pull down showing the tetrad grid reference in the top right hand corner:

If you click this, you will be able to select a monad sub-division within the tetrad:

To start the entry of plant records, start typing a taxon name in the New Taxon box

As you start entering a taxon name, suggestions will be made on likely matches. These suggestions will also highlight the number of records at monad and tetrad level, whether the taxon is national rare or scarce, and whether it is in the County Rare Plant Register.

You can also search by single letter genus. For example: p annua

Once you have selected the appropriate taxon name from the list, the Details of plant form appears. We will work through each field below. The taxon and grid reference are carried over and would normally be left as they are.

Status

An optional field to indicate the origin status of the record. Note that the additional regenerating checkbox is intended to distinguish between an isolated occurrence that will probably vanish once the individual(s) die, v's a population that is established and will keep going. 'Regenerating' implies some level of establishment and could apply in conjunction with any of the 'origin' statuses.

Abundance

This optional field provides a number of ways of indicating the abundance of the plant being recorded. The default option is count, which expects a number.

If you want to record a null record, select absent from the list of options for Abundance.

There are other options available:

These options have their own pulldown boxes. For example, range:

and DAFOR:

Stage

Another optional field. Please record the most mature phase that is present.

Habitat

Again, an optional field. As with Abundance, there are different options depending on the first pulldown you choose. For example, here are the sub-options for Woodland:

Determiner by/confirmed by

You can add determined by and confirmed by using the field below (and choosing the appropriate option from the pull down).

Attributes

Attributes are intended to store additional information about the record in a structured way. The list of attributes is likely to grow over time.

Once you have chosen your option, you can enter the associated value. For example, with altitude, you can then enter the value in metres.

Notes

This is an unstructured free text field

Photo

This optional field allows the addition of a photo or series of photos. On mobile you can either take a new photo or browse existing photos.

On desktop you can browse existing photos.

To add another record click the + Add Another button (displayed as a green +icon on mobile).

Records are added to a list displayed on the survey form. On desktop or laptop, this is displayed as the left hand column. On mobile you can use the back link at the top of the screen to return the survey form.

Using the survey form

From the survey form, you can click into an existing record to enter it.

If you move on to a new square, you can follow links on the survey form to start another separate list or duplicate this survey's details.