Irish recorders leading the way

Dublin Botany Group's Plant Hunt at Killiney
Image: Mies Stam

Anyone who has been following the BSBI's New Year Plant Hunt via social media or keeping an eye on the Results page will have noticed how many Irish recorders have taken part this year, from first-timers to the BSBI President, based in northern Ireland.

We've seen images of smiling botanists out recording in groups, close-ups of interesting plants spotted by solo recorders and enthusiastic comments from first-time New Year Plant Hunters.

Arenaria leptoclados in bloom (just),
Enniscorthy, 2/1/2017
Image: Paula O'Meara

All this activity is due in no small part to the efforts of BSBI's Irish Officer, Dr Maria Long, who has encouraged so many botanists to take part and has supported them throughout the process. 

Great work from Maria and the Irish botanists!

But Irish botanists don't just record plants at New Year. A new Red List for the vascular plants of Ireland was published at the end of 2016 and is dedicated to BSBI's Irish County Recorders. The foreword says:

"This work could not have been undertaken without the huge contribition made by the BSBI Vice-county Recorders, past and present, whose records, gathered both in the field and from the literature, form the bulk of the BSBI's vascular plant database... to them this book is sincerely dedicated."

You can download the Irish Red List here, follow Maria on Twitter here and keep up with what Irish botanists are up to via the BSBI Ireland Facebook page here.

Winter Heliotrope blooming at Bantry Bay, 2/1/2017
Image: Clare Heardman