BSBI News 125 and Yearbook 2014 now out. 

Gwynn Ellis and Trevor James have finished the latest issue of BSBI News and the Big Mail-out has started! Members: your copy should be dropping through your letterbox in the next few days, but Gwynn and Trevor allowed me a quick peek at the Contents list, so here's a sneak preview for you:

• A note on new sites for the gorgeous Allium on the front cover. I won't spoil the surprise by telling you which sub-species or variety it is!
• A note on 'Dorset's last Wild Asparagus: back from the brink of extinction?' by Simon Leach et al. Simon's recent co-authored paper in New Journal of Botany 'Botanical records and their role in shaping nature conservation priorities and actions' has proved incredibly popular, so it's great to see him in News too.
• Report on incidence of Polypogon viridis on British & Irish streets. Have you spotted it?
• An extra ID character for Veronica agrestis/polita - now what on earth can that be...?
• Kevin Walker and David Roy (CEH) on a new plant surveillance and monitoring scheme for semi-natural habitats. Work on this new scheme was already underway when Ash Dieback arrived on our shores, so we can also announce that...
• BSBI is about to make a very big SPLASH as one of the key players in a major new project to survey, quantify and monitor the long-term impacts of Ash Dieback on the ground flora and epiphytes associated with ash trees in woodlands. 

Woodland, Hackfall
Image: K. Walker

Kevin Walker has been working closely with colleagues across the botanical and recording communities on both these projects, and SPLASH brings together the British Bryological Society, the British Lichen Society, the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology and, of course, BSBI. Read all about SPLASH, and find out how you can get involved, in BSBI News 125.

Apologies to non-members but you can only receive the latest BSBI News and the Yearbook once you have joined the society. News brings you all the latest plant sightings, ID tips and Big Botanical Ideas from BSBI members across Britain and Ireland, and the Yearbook has all our BSBI contacts, including the list of our expert referees and how to get in touch with them. 

Yes, if you are a BSBI member you can call on the services of international botanical experts like Prof Richard Bateman and Dr Donald Pigott, as well as our dedicated Beginners' Referees, to help you ID that plant. And it's absolutely free... but only once you have joined, so what are you waiting for?