BSBI New Year Plant Hunt in the media

Bulbous Buttercup in bloom at New Year
Image: Oisin Duffy

Media coverage of the New Year Plant Hunt kicked off on Monday with a brief mention on BBC Radio 4's Today programme - now available on iPlayer here and we are at 1 hour 40 minutes in. Listen carefully or you'll miss it!

Fortunately coverage by Mike McCarthy in Monday's Independent was much more comprehensive! If you missed it in the print version of The Indy then don't worry - you can read it here. It was also in The i which is print only. 

Pineappleweed in bloom:
 widely recorded during the
 New Year Plant Hunt
Image: Pete Stroh

Reports followed in The Daily Mail Online (who needs celebrities when we have wild flowers?) and The Telegraph covered the New Year Plant Hunt on both its news page and its gardening page.

Great to see images in the national press by BSBI members and New Year Plant Hunters such as recent member Karen Woolley (remember Karen's Common Centaury in flower on Day One?), BSBI Science Officer Pete Stroh who was lead author on the England Red List, ace photographer Marc Cruise, from the west of Ireland, Lliam Rooney aka Botany Bill (who provided the excellent plant ID videos linked from the top of this page), and New Year Plant Hunt prize-winner James. 

We are also in Tech Times and the Bournemouth Echo!

But the publication everybody wants to see right now - and it's winging its way to BSBI members as we speak - is BSBI News! 

This plant features on the front cover
of BSBI News #131
Image: Ian Strachan

Here's a sneaky peek (on right) at the plant featured on the front cover of the latest issue - can you guess what it is? I'm trying to wheedle a few highlights out of the editors and share them here. Just so people who haven't yet joined BSBI can see what they are missing!

Remember, if you took part in the New Year Plant Hunt and you can tell a Daisy from a Dandelion, you are officially a botanist - now BSBI can help you get more involved and develop your skills. 

For non-members, there are free ID resources here, training opportunities here (and BSBI training grants to help you!) and if you click on the interactive map on our homepage, you can get in touch with friendly botanists in your area. Why not try going along to a local or national field meeting and see if you like it? Then decide if you want to join us!