Introducing Wild G78

I’ve now got a list of 44 plant species that should be in flower around Barrhead, Neilston and Uplawmoor. All I have to do is go out and find them but, again, I want to be methodical.

Without a decent plan it would be a case of walking around until I see a flower and then using a field guide such as Francis Rose’s The Wildflower Key. I don’t think I’ve identified a single species yet using this book. I actually prefer the Collins Gem Wild Flowers – smaller, simpler and easier.

There are pros and cons to this approach. Pros are that and you might find something that wasn’t on the list you originally had. Cons are that you can end up investigating species that aren’t even found in the local area, as most field guides cover not just the UK as a whole, but often north west Europe, as in the case with Francis Rose’s guide.

One option is to bookmark illustrations for every species on the list, in your field guide, and then check every option. That’s certainly feasible but possibly a little tedious. That’s why I’ve decided to ‘cheat’ – using technology and social media.

Mobile phones are now effectively small personal computers you can carry around in your pocket complete with internet access. They can now replace a bag full of bookmarked field guides any day. Not only that. You can organise the information in ways that is most meaningful and intuitive to you. That’s why I’ve created a Pinterest page at http://pinterest.com/WildG78/

Pinterest allows you to pin photos of things you find interesting from all over the web in your own vitual ‘pinboard’, organising them into all different themes, or boards. I’ve chosen to organise mine based on what format will let me zoom in on the most relevant criteria for identification.

Imagine for a second that you are out and about on a warm day in June and you see a white flower with 5 petals. There are a few ways you could seek to identify it. You might look at all different flowers that have 5 white petals in your area, compare them with other flowers that match that description only and see which one looks most like the one you are trying to identify.

Alternatively you could look only at local plants that you’d expect to be in flower at that time. Or you can do both. The Wild G78 Pinterest board is designed so that you can do either. The page is in development but soon you will be able to look at local species organised by month or by petal colour and number.

You can download a Pinterest app to your mobile phone and access Wild G78 on Pinterest wherever you go but not only that, if you have a Pinterest account you can comment on any posts. Please feel free to do so, especially if you’ve just managed to identify a species. Tell us where you saw it. Give a map grid reference if you can, or simple directions. Any other information you can supply would be useful, such as habitat, date, weather conditions.

With time and enough input this could become a useful botanical resource, possibly yielding data for scientific research or indicating the effects of local climate change. At the very least you can get feedback from other users as to where you can see individual species so that you can go on your own search to see every single species in the area.

I’m currently populating a board on Pinterest with flower species for April. A bit late I know but many of these species will continue to flower into May and June so there’s time to find them yet. A May board will follow soon.