David Pearman, awarded the MBE in the last Birthday Honours List, has been presented with his award by Cornwall's Lord Lieutenant Lady Mary Holborow at a special ceremony at Ladock House.

Mr Pearman, who lives at Feock, received the award for services to the Conservation of British Flora and to the Botanical Society of the British Isles.

A volunteer for the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI), he spearheaded the project to publish the New Atlas of the British and Irish Flora, securing funding for the project and rallying the support of a network of 1,600 volunteer recorders across Britain, Ireland, the Channel Isles and the Isle of Man.

The resulting 910 page volume, produced from nine million records, features 2,412 maps, with an additional 940 maps included on the cd-rom that accompanies the Atlas.

With support from the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, and Environment and Heritage Service, Northern Ireland, as well as the BSBI and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, the Atlas has been described as a tremendous resource for anyone involved in framing national, regional and local policies affecting wildlife and the countryside, as well as botanists, conservation agencies, academics and amateur naturalists.

As past president of the BSBI, Mr Pearman has also organised national recording projects, as well as local studies in Dorset and the Islands of the Inner Hebrides. He has been involved in a number of important publications, including Scarce Plants of Britain, Dorset's Disappearing Heathland Flora and A Flora of Tiree, Gunna and Coll. He is also currently a vice president of Plantlife, the wildlife conservation charity.