I've been interested in wild flowers for most of my life, but, until the last few years, I couldn't name more than a handful. I had several books, but I could rarely find new flowers in them. 

It made me think about books, and all their problems!

Colour printing and paper cost money, so there's usually only one image per flower. For realism you need photos rather than paintings, and you really need lots of them for every flower as many are quite variable. And, because books are books, they are linear - they go from page 1 to page x. You can't get away from this! Comparing pictures and details on different pages is very difficult, and often requires too many fingers. Finally (for now - I could go on) they are written by experts. This may sound silly, but botany, like other subjects has its own jargon - words which most people don't know. Botanist-speak is a big problem for the beginner, however essential it may be to the expert. 

Most people want to be able to identify the new flower they've just seen. With most books the easiest way to find your flower is to look it up in the index, for which you need its name. This is, of course, the one thing that you don't know!

I thought to myself "Wouldn't it be wonderful to have software which uses what you notice - colour, size, and shape?" 

And wouldn't it also be great to have it written as much as possible in plain English, with explanations for botanical terms available every time they are used? 

And finally - shouldn't it be fun? Some of my books are fun to read. Some are rather dry. I've tried to write the Finder in a light and easy style - there are plenty of heavyweight books (and web sites) that you can digest when you are promoted to the botanist "Premier League".

So this is how the Wild Flower Finder was born! 

It's been the biggest project I've ever taken on. The flower photos (well over 10,000!) were taken from Spring 2002 to March 2008 (some Daffodil images), and the finishing touches to the DVD-ROM version 2.01 were still being applied in April 2008. 

I need to thank my wife Vicki for her immense patience in putting up with this obsession on top of my other commitments for so long. Thanks Vicki! 

I should also thank her and others, particularly Hilary Robertson and Jim Redfern, for their understanding when we've been out walking, by waiting and not complaining (much) while I agonise over shots. Jim Redfern has contributed many photos to this work, and has been enthusiastically supportive throughout. Thanks Jim! 

Hilary was part of the inspiration because of the work she did on the "Wild Flowers" section of our earlier CD-ROM on the Coniston Fells. I've used several of her phrases. Thanks Hilary! 

And of course there are our references sources, without which this would not have been possible. You can find details of the books and resources we've called on in the "About" section of the DVD-ROM.

As with all our projects I've enjoyed this immensely. I hope you will too! 

Dave Mulligan 
April 2008