Ian Denholm on Harris.
Image: L. Marsh. 

BSBI President in on-line Q&A.

Don't forget that our President, Ian Denholm will be taking part in an on-line Q&A on the impact of biodiversity decline. 

The Q&A has been organised by Sense about Science and takes place tomorrow (Wednesday) 2-3 pm. More info here. 

The image on the right shows Ian in a species-rich wet meadow in the Outer Hebrides last summer. He was on the look-out for orchids. No surprise there!

Citizen science promoted on Radio 4. 

Just been listening to Lisa Jardine on Radio 4 talking about the rise of citizen science, and interviewing some professional scientists on the subject. Some nice comments about the importance of the data collected by volunteer recorders. 

Although BSBI was not mentioned by name, we have been rather influential in this field - more info here and here. The new Projects page on the website explains what BSBI does with the records collected by our members. 

The Radio 4 programme is called Seven Ages of Science, and is available here on iPlayer until next Tuesday.

Supporting botanical collections IV. 

Dr John Bailey (aka "Professor Knotweed") and LTR Herbarium volunteers
Image: L. Marsh

Martin Godfrey (active BSBI member who sits on our Science & Research Committee) has been in touch to say he is "Delighted that you are giving so much publicity to volunteers and herbaria at the moment." Martin volunteers in the Herbarium at Stoke Museum, so he gets to work with county recorders and his local Wildlife Trust to sort out ID issues.

But he also says "As one who has a 'speaking part' at Wednesday's Linnean Plenary [on the role of museums and collections in biological recording], I feel very strongly that one of the reasons that museum collections in general - and natural history in particular - are under threat is under-use. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get more BSBI (and other recording group) members to make more use of the collections?"

Beginner botanists learn how to use the Herbarium
at University of Leicester.
Image: L. Marsh

I couldn't agree more, Martin! One way we have tried to do this in the Herbarium at the University of Leicester is to set up two 'Museum-to-Meadow' projects which link up locally-collected specimens (Primavesi's roses and elm specimens collected by Clive Stace just before Dutch Elm Disease hit VC55 in the 1970s) with local group field meetings to try and refind those populations. 

But we have found that embedding herbarium sessions in our local botany courses (beginner and intermediate) and hosting winter ID sessions and training sessions in the Herbarium have been the most successful ways of encouraging local botanists - at all skill levels - to use their local herbarium as a resource and to consider volunteering.  

Maybe participants in tomorrow's meeting at the Linnean Society will come up with some other ideas we can all try out?

Supporting botanical collections III.

Sheets at SLBI, ready for Chris to go through.
Image: C. Metherell.

More people are emailing about how they rely on herbaria. Chris Metherell is writing a BSBI handbook on Eyebrights Euphrasia and tells me that he has been visiting as many relevant herbaria as possible. 

Chris said, "The first chap in the UK to take an interest in the genus Euphrasia was Frederick Townsend, who I feel a particular affinity for, as he came from Bournemouth, my home town. I easily tracked his herbarium down to the South London Botanical Institute (SLBI) and made arrangements to visit. They were unfailingly helpful."  SLBI's herbarium and library are housed in a converted house in Tulse Hill (!) where SLBI hosts talks and training courses, and offers volunteering opportunities for botanists.

Chris continued, "I had checked up on what might be there, and was interested to read, in Peter Yeo's paper revising Euphrasia in the UK (1978) that several of the type specimens for the genus were missing from the Townsend herbarium. Pity, I thought, but there would obviously be other interesting stuff. Anyway, they had got all the Euphrasia sets ready for me. A pile about 4 feet high - excellent! 

Digitising sheets for Herbaria@Home.
Image: C. Metherell. 

"The top set happened to be E. foulaensis so I started there. Almost the first sheet I looked at turned out to be the missing type specimen for E. foulaensis! Yelp of excitement and much interest from the volunteers. It had been designated by Herbert Pugsley in the 1920s [Pugsley also published an earlier revision of Euphrasia in 1930]. I didn't have time to go through the whole Euphrasia collection, but there were lots of other gems. I'm sure no-one has looked at the Euphrasias since Pugsley in the 1920s. Oddly, Peter Yeo obviously never went, as he always wrote notes on specimens he appraised."

As SLBI specimens are now being digitised for Herbaria@Home, Chris can continue working on the Euphrasia records from his home in North Northumberland, where he is a VCR, but he laments, "The only downside is that I don't have the very welcoming SLBI volunteers feeding me coffee and biscuits!" Chris is also a lutenist, so maybe he could compose an ayre on 'Weeping beside sad fountains, for I am without custard creams' in the style of John Dowland?    

How does a botanist "get to work" (part three)

Botanists rowing to work at Malltraeth Marshes.
Image: Barry Wrightson.

The third in an occasional series.

Barry Wrightson, a BSBI member living in Ynys Mon (Anglesey) has sent me this photo showing how he and some fellow botanists travelled to Malltraeth Marsh recently to carry out a Callitriche survey. 

Barry tells me "We have (I think) record numbers of species of the difficult little blighters." 

Good luck with identifying them, Barry. I'm sure you'll be using Tim Rich's excellent Plant Crib and the BSBI handbook on Callitriche spp. aka Water-starworts. And as a BSBI member, you will be able to consult BSBI Referees to help you identify those "little blighters" with confidence!

Supporting botanical collections II. 

Helen Cleal volunteering at NMW.
Image: T. Rich.

Delighted to report that, over the past few days, I have been inundated with emails and photos showing how BSBI members are using, volunteering in and otherwise supporting their local herbaria!  

Several people have been in touch from Wales. Tim Rich sent this photo of one of his herbarium volunteers at NMW National Museum of Wales, which houses more than 250,000 specimens and welcomes volunteer curators. 

Paul Green (on right) at the Polypodium field meeting.
Image: Ceri Gait 2013. 

Acting Welsh Officer Paul Green uses the NMW herbarium a lot for his work. He told me, "I often check the specimens before I go out to survey a rare Welsh species to see if any extra info on the sheet can help me find the plant." 

Paul added, "I used the Polypodium specimens when I ran a workshop for the BSBI in March at the National Museum Wales." I was sorry I couldn't make it to that workshop, but hear it was very successful. One of the participants took these photographs of the workshop (below) and the follow-up field meeting (on right). 

Details of this year's workshops and training meetings will be up on the Meetings page this winter, but we will have a print-out listing all our 2014 meetings ready for you to take away at the AEM in November.

Polypodium Workshop 2013.
Image: Ceri Gait.

And Sarah Stille, VCR for Merioneth, has sent me her list of forthcoming training and recording meetings in Wales, including a proposed workshop at NMW in autumn 2014. Sarah's excellent Blog has details of what she is up to, or you can contact her (and other VCRs) via the email links on the Local Groups page. 

Sarah has been a longtime supporter of herbaria in general and BSBI's Herbaria@Home project in particular. She gave a presentation on the subject at the AEM 2010 and, at Meetings Committee the other week, Sarah agreed to offer a poster on H@H at this year's AEM. Please get in touch with me at publicity@bsbi.org.uk if you would also like to offer a poster at the AEM on how you use and support your local herbarium.

Supporting botanical collections.

University of Leicester Herbarium volunteers
Image: L. Marsh

Sue Townsend (Biodiversity Learning Manager at the Field Studies Council and an active BSBI member who sits on our Meetings & Communications Committee) has been in touch over an issue I feel very strongly about - herbarium/natural history collections and how we use and value them in these cash-straitened times. 

Herbarium sheet exhibited at Birdfair.
Image: R. Benskin

Sue tells me that she is to chair a plenary meeting at the Linnean Society on 18th September entitled: 'The role of museums and collections in biological recording'. The meeting is open to all: you have to register, but it only costs £15 for a full day of talks, and lunch is included in the price. 

More info here, with a programme listing all the speakers and subjects. Looks like a really interesting mixture, and apparently Tom Humphrey is also offering a poster on Herbaria@Home! 

Sue said "I have been part of the Taxonomy and Systematics Committee, and a repeated cry was that museums are suffering from lack of curators, and collections are coming under more and more pressure. This is an opportunity to make the case that collections and type specimens play a vital role in recording." 

Yes, Sue, I agree. Geoffrey Hall and I gave a talk to the BSBI AEM last November on this very subject, called 'Herbarium collections under threat: how should BSBI respond nationally and can local BSBI groups help?' 

You can see the abstract here and the slides here: http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/met/jds/cnhs/herbaria.pdf

LTR herbarium volunteer demonstrates
mounting to botany students.
Image: L. Marsh

Every herbarium sheet has a story behind it, as well as being a valuable scientific resource. The sheet in the image (above left) shows one such example, with its all-important label (above) stating where, when and by whom the specimen was found.

And those of you who watched the recent video about New Journal of Botany will have heard Richard Gornall explain how much he relies on herbarium volunteers in his role as Curator of the collection  (LTR) at University of Leicester. 

With cutbacks biting, herbarium collections are in a precarious situation, so maybe this is the time for botanists to go that extra mile and actively support local herbaria this autumn.