The much awaited new TV series on British
plant distribution, “Wild Things”, will be launched on Channel Four on Monday,
21st January, and the Botanical Society of the British Isles (BSBI) is
delighted that our plant distribution maps feature so
strongly in the six-part series. Channel Four has acknowledged the BSBI
Atlases, in which these maps were first published, as “a remarkable record of
plant distribution and one of the biggest natural history projects ever
undertaken” with a lasting and worldwide impact on all biological recording.
BSBI’s pioneering work, to map and monitor what plants grow where, underpins
many of the stories to be featured and continues to shape 21st century
nature conservation.
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| Jim McIntosh opens the BSBI/RBGE Conference Image: L. Marsh |
Trevor Dines, one of the three co-presenters
on “Wild Things”, has been a keen and active BSBI member for over 20 years and
was a key speaker at the BSBI/RBGE Mapping Conference in September 2012
(pictured on left) to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of our first,
ground-breaking ‘Atlas of the British Flora’. Its 2002 follow-up, the 'New
Atlas of the British & Irish Flora' was co-edited by Trevor with David
Pearman & Chris Preston (photograph below).
On his home patch in Anglesey, Trevor discovered a hybrid between two of our
native horsetails that was new to science and named it Equisetum x robertsii after
local school teacher, Dick Roberts, one of Trevor’s botanical gurus. Dick was
also BSBI’s county Recorder for Anglesey for over 30 years.
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| Co-editors of the 2002 'New Atlas of the British & Irish Flora' David Pearman, Chris Preston and Trevor Dines (l to r) Image: L. Marsh |
BSBI has at least one such Recorder in
every county in Britain and Ireland. Much of the work for both Atlases was
done by BSBI volunteers, submitting records of the plants they
identified and recorded locally each year. These records were fed through
our networks of Plant Referees and Vice-County Recorders, and then
collated by the Atlas editors, with support from across the
membership. BSBI counts the most eminent British & Irish
botanists amongst its members, alongside enthusiastic beginners - this mix of
professional and amateur botanists is key to BSBI's success in pulling off
"one of the biggest natural history projects ever undertaken”.
“Wild Things” will try to show how Britain’s landscape has changed dramatically
over the last 50 years. From Snowdonia to the Yorkshire Dales, from Merseyside
to inner London, Trevor and his co-presenters will introduce viewers to plants
with interesting histories and distributions, using the latest BSBI data to reveal what grows
where today, how plant distributions are changing and, above all, how much fun
it is mapping these changes.
Dr Kevin Walker, Head of Research and
Development at BSBI’s Plant Unit, refers to the BSBI Atlases as “landmark
publications that have influenced the biological recording of living organisms
worldwide”.
BSBI President Ian Bonner said that the Atlases “provide the basis for our understanding of plant distribution in Britain and are a testament to what can be achieved by voluntary effort”.
More information on what plants grow where,
and BSBI’s work to map these distribution patterns, is available via our
website bsbi.org.uk, where you can view the maps used in "Wild
Things" by using the ‘Maps scheme’ pages here
For more information on BSBI, contact :
Publicity & Outreach Officer Louise Marsh: publicity@bsbi.org.uk
Publicity & Outreach Officer Louise Marsh: publicity@bsbi.org.uk
Head of Research & Development, Plant Unit, Dr.
Kevin Walker: kevinwalker@bsbi.org.uk
