New Year Plant Hunt 2018: Day Two

Flowers seen in Sussex, 31.12.2017
Image: Kate Gold

The second day of the New Year Plant Hunt and the records continued to flood in, as they did on Day One. There were so many red markers on the interactive map on the Results page that they were all stacked up on top of each other and you had to zoom in to see what had been found where.

The New Year Plant Hunt support team were kept very busy, with enquiries coming in to nyplanthunt@bsbi.org We realised that the online recording form which worked beautifully on some browsers didn't work so well on others. Do we know why? No we don't! Something to look into once the Hunt is over and we sit down to carry out the post-mortem!

Alexanders in Kent, 31.12.2017
Image: Dave Steere

Our volunteers on the support team did an amazing job - Ciara (now in her second year on the team) answered enquiries, tweeted encouragement to first-time hunters, helped people edit their records when they realised they'd overlooked something or got one of their IDs wrong... 

Ellen and Jo, joining us for the first time this year, soon got the hang of what was required and have also been helping and encouraging plant hunters. Over on Facebook Richard was spreading the word and answering any questions people had about how to upload records and what the aim of the Hunt was.

Tom was amazing as always and very patient with the rest of us whenever we had a technical query.

Hazel: male and female flowers
Stroud, 31.12.2017
Image: @anneontheshelf 

In the evening, lots of New Year Plant Hunters shared their finds on #wildflowerhour which once again trended on Twitter, as it has every Sunday this year. It was wonderful hearing #wildflowerhour participants talk about how much they'd enjoyed their first ever Hunt - and vice versa! 

Also very gratifying to receive a message from BSBI President Chris Metherell saying how much he'd enjoyed his New Year Plant Hunt, how impressed he was with the New Year Plant Hunt website and the excellent work from the volunteer support team - and how he'll be going out again on New Year's Day to do another Hunt!

Plants seen on Day Two ranged from the usual suspects to some more unusual finds. Ivy Broomrape and Alexanders were highlights, Meadow Buttercup was spotted several times (usually accompanied by "I can't believe this is blooming on New Year's Eve!") and Hoary Mustard definitely seems to be on the increase - it was recorded in London, Bristol, Kent, Cambridge... 

Ivy in flower in Edinburgh, 31.12.2017
Image: Gus Routledge

Autumn stragglers and all-year-rounders were seen by many people - check the list of frequent plants here - and a few typical winter wildflowers such as Winter Heliotrope and Common Whitlow-grass were spotted. 

Many people also noticed the flowers on Hazel trees and Ivy, which is a valuable provider of winter nectar - check out this blogpost from Ryan Clark, New Year Plant Hunt Co-ordinator in 2015.

So, what will Day Three bring? The first wild flowers of 2018 - watch this space!

New Year Plant Hunt 2018: Day One

BSBI's seventh New Year Plant Hunt kicked off today and the first records reached us before 1am! 

As in previous years, the 'First Flower' prize is awarded to an Irish botanist but this year, it's Jessica Hamilton rather than Oisin Duffy. 

She spotted the Groundsel on the right.  

For her wonderful effort, Jessica receives one of our opulent, no-expense-spared New Year Plant Hunt prizes... oh I wish! 

I'm afraid our prizes are simply a chance to share three botanical wishes for 2018 on these pages. Watch out for Jessica's three wishes later in the month. 

She was a busy bee today though, because as well as recording the first flower, Jessica then headed off to Killarney to lead one of this morning's first group Plant Hunts! 


The photo above left shows her team of 18 botanists from the BSBI Kerry group just after they had recorded a grand total of 43 species in Killarney. 

Click on the Kerry marker on our interactive map here to see which species they found. 

Recorders were out across Britain and Ireland today and they spotted a wide range of plants. 

There were plants which always raise a smile, like the Butcher's-broom found in bloom in Cambs. by Roger Horton (below left).

There were invasives like Three-cornered Leek, seen in Folkestone by Dave Steere (above).

The good, the bad and the - no there aren't any ugly plants!

Locations ranged from the south coast to the north of Scotland.

Our most northerly recorder reported only three species, Gorse, Daisy and Cow Parsley, blooming in Caithness while Met Office climate scientist Mark McCarthy found it easy to record more than 20 species during a 20 minute walk through Exeter and at Lake Cliffs on the south coast, 72 species were recorded in bloom.

The composite image below shows some of the plants Mark found in bloom. 

This is probably a good time to remind people that the aim of the New Year Plant Hunt is to build up a clear picture of which plants are flowering where across Britain and Ireland so we can see how our wild and naturalised plants are responding to changes in long-term weather patterns.

So it's about the roles played by altitude and proximity to the coast, or whether urban sites provide micro-climates which can support more species in bloom than rural sites, or how alien species fare compared to native plants, or whether we are seeing plants 'hanging on' from autumn vs plants expected to bloom in midwinter vs spring plants blooming early... it isn't about who has the longest list! 

So three cheers for John Fergusson in Ayrshire who recorded Gorse and nothing else, despite having a really good look and then having to endure his phone battery conking out while he was trying to upload his one and only record. 

John reported feeling deflated but I think he should feel proud of capturing a true picture of what's in bloom (or not) in southwest Scotland in midwinter after some particularly nasty weather there in recent weeks. 

Records like this - and reports from people who couldn't find anything at all in bloom - are exactly what BSBI Head of Science Kevin Walker needs for his New Year Plant Hunt analysis. 

What he wouldn't want is people cherry-picking hotspots likely to support lots of plants in bloom, but I'm sure News & Views readers wouldn't do that. 

Because you know that it's actually much more fun to contribute meaningful data - such as the plants spotted today for the first time in a particular location, like the inland Danish Scurvy-grass (above left) seen by Paula O'Meara in Taghmon, County Wexford - that one was new for the hectad. A recent arrival? Or just a plant that nobody had spotted before? 

And then there were finds such as Sophie Leguil's quartet (on right) of plants growing on the streets of London, which may prove to support the 'more plants in cities than in the countryside' hypothesis. Or maybe not - we'll see!

Or how about the records of plants we usually see in the spring, like the Sweet Violet (on left) spotted in Suffolk by Rosemary Lincoln? 

How many of those early spring flowers will we see this New Year compared to those autumn stragglers and all-year-rounders which currently fill the list of most frequently recorded plants on the 2018 results page? 

Lots of questions and only your New Year Plant Hunt data can provide the answers! So here's to three more days of data collection. If you haven't been out yet and don't fancy venturing out on your own, check out the group events here or contact your County Recorder and see if they are planning anything.

And if you have any questions, or you are struggling to use the online recording form, or you want us to help you identify a mystery plant - just email us at nyplanthunt@bsbi.org or tweet us @BSBIbotany using the #NewYearPlantHunt hashtag.

Here's to Day Two of the 2018 New Year Plant Hunt! 

Winter twig ID key: the answers

Did you have a go at guessing the identity of the three mystery twigs we posted last week, taken from John Poland's forthcoming Field Key to Winter Twigs?

If not, why not have a go now before you look at the answers below!

The answers are:
1. Norway Maple Acer platanoides, one of the six xylophyte genera often seen in Britain and Ireland which have opposite leaves/ buds.

2. Katsura tree Cercidiphyllum japonicum, whose leaves have a distinctive toffee-apple/ caramel smell as they change colour and whose twigs have distinctive 'crab claw' buds.

3. Black walnut Juglans nigra with a leaf scar looking like a monkey's face and superposed buds.

The image on the right shows another winter twig that features in John's forthcoming book. This one is from the Fig tree Ficus carica.  

Christmas message from BSBI's President

Chris in the Herbarium at University of Reading
Image: A. Culham

Earlier this month we brought you an interview with Chris Metherell, who on 25th November took over from John Faulkner as BSBI President. I asked Chris if he'd like to offer a Christmas message to botanists and I'm delighted that he sent this note through earlier today: 

"This is the second task I have undertaken in my new role as President. The first was to sign a formal objection on behalf of the Society to a planning application for a new golf course at Coul in East Sutherland. 

"Somehow we need to make sure that our plant records, so carefully gathered, are more regarded by planners and their ilk. I know that the Board of Trustees is currently considering a new conservation policy for the BSBI and I've already fielded some phone calls from senior members on related topics. Watch this space. 

"Now for the Christmas message. 

Chris in the Herbarium at University of Leicester
Image: L.Marsh 

"Winter is traditionally not a good time for botany. Short dark days which make us long for the summer. County Recorders are hunched not over roaring fires roasting chestnuts but more often over their computer screens inputting data. But I offer you a new winter sport. One that doesn't involve snow and planks of wood or hard ice and sharp blades. It's the herbarium season! The best present you can give a herbarium keeper is a visit! So, make a New Year resolution to spend an afternoon with some pressed plants. 

"And the folks who run herbaria are often really interesting people too. One of the things I've learned about botanists is that most turn out to be multi-faceted individuals for whom botany is just one of their all-consuming passions, if that's possible! We might expect quite a few birders but I've met botanists who turn out also to be organists, poets, unicyclists or ballroom dancers to mention just a few. A few years ago we were running a trip for the Wild Flower Society to Ben Lawers. On the last evening we arranged to meet up for a meal. Over the haggis we realised that every one of the fourteen botanists present played a musical instrument. Of course none of us had bought one along. Pity.

Chris in his local herbarium: Hancock Museum,
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Image courtesy of C. Metherell

"So I have a second (and final, I promise) New Year resolution for you. On your next field trip, or conference or training session, or whatever it is, try and get behind the botany and find out about the alter egos of the botanists you meet. You might be surprised at the results. 

"Have a great Christmas and enjoy your New Year Plant Hunt - I'll be out hunting on my patch in Northumberland and I'll share my finds with you on these pages in the New Year." 

Thanks to Chris for this - now click here to find out about our President's alter ego. Merry Christmas!

New Year Plant Hunt support team 2018: ready to help you!

Ciara was delighted to find
a Shepherd's-purse in flower!
New Year Plant Hunt 2017, Leicester
Image: K. Akkerman

We're busy gearing up for BSBI's New Year Plant Hunt which starts next weekend. There are eight of us on the support team this year, ready to answer your enquiries, help with identifications, offer advice on how to use the recording form, retweet or 'like' any finds you post via Twitter or Facebook, process/ report on and then analyse the results...

Last year, Ciara Sugrue, PhD student at University of Loughborough, joined the team to help out behind the scenes and she has very kindly agreed to come back again this year. 

I asked Ciara to tell us a bit about her experience as a New Year Plant Hunt volunteer, why she got involved and to remind us what the New Year Plant Hunt is all about. 

Over to Ciara:  

"The New Year Plant Hunt (NYPH) is undergoing its seventh year of data collection from Saturday 30th December to Tuesday 2nd January. 

The New Year Plant Hunt website
showing 2017 results

"The aim of the NYPH is to walk for up to three hours identifying wild or naturalised flowering plants. This data collection is very important as it helps to build a bigger picture of how many plants are flowering in winter in the UK and Ireland, in light of climate change.

"In January 2017, I volunteered for a week to assist in the NYPH. Last year a new mobile form was created to record the flowering plants on your phone and there was a new website with an interactive map, so you could enter the records at home and see what other people were recording. 

"The forms are really user friendly. Plant records can be entered quickly and easily whilst on the plant walk or at home. This allowed plant species to be documented without having to be manually entered by the volunteers. 

Geoffrey Hall (County Recorder for
Leicestershire & Rutland (VC55)
examining Wall Barley to see if it
was in flower. He decided it wasn't!
New Year Plant Hunt 2017
Image: C. Sugrue

"For those that lacked a smart phone, I helped enter in over 500 individual species records on the website form. The mobile form and website were a great success, and we have to thank Tom Humphrey and the Biological Records Centre/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology for creating them!` 

"This year I will be volunteering for another week with the BSBI. Part of my volunteering includes checking records. Where flowering plants have never been recorded in that area, I manually check the records. By processing these records I develop my knowledge of the flowering plant distribution in the UK and Ireland.

"Last year I attended two New Year Plant Hunts organised by the Leicestershire VC55 BSBI group as part of my volunteering, which I thoroughly enjoyed. 2017 was the first year I have taken part in the NYPH and would highly recommend it to beginners. During the two Leicestershire surveys (one in the city, one in the countryside), we recorded between 25- 35 flowering plants each time, which was the perfect amount as I was able to refresh my memory and learn how to identify a handful of new plants. 

Keechy Akkerman learning how to
identify wild flowers with
Ciara's trusty 'Collin's Flower Guide'.
Image: C. Sugrue

"There were botanists with a range of expertise, allowing us to learn from one another. I really enjoyed the first (rural)  NYPH, so much so that I took one of my colleagues Keechy Akkerman out with me on my second (urban) trip! 

"As I am volunteering again this year I am looking to create ambassadors from universities with a strong botanical background that can organise a NYPH on their campus or in their local area. I have met many excellent botanists who began as students or who were self-taught and believe it is extremely important to share this knowledge. 

"If you would be interested in helping coordinate a NYPH on your University campus please contact me via the NYPH email account nyplanthunt@bsbi.org 
and we can post your event on the new Events page on the NYPH website.

"I would like to say a final thank you to the NYPH team from 2017: Ian, Richard, Ryan and Tom. With a special thank you to Louise (BSBI Communications Officer) and Kevin (Head of Science) as without them I wouldn’t have been able to take part in this great event. I would also like to welcome Ellen Goddard from Loughborough University who will be volunteering with the NYPH this year – welcome to the team Ellen! - and I'm also looking forward to working with Jo, who is based in London and is also joining the team this year. 

"Happy New Year Plant Hunting!"­

New Journal of Botany: final issue now out!

Some of the plants found during a survey of Fair Isle
Images: C.V. Quinteros Penafiel

Today sees the end of an era - after seven years of BSBI's scientific journal New Journal of Botany, today we publish the final issue.

It's a bumper issue, with twelve papers, one short note, several pages of notable plant records and two book reviews.

If you're a BSBI member, head over to our members-only area (password required), click on the New Journal of Botany link, and you'll be able to start reading the issue in full.

Comparing Britain's Small-white Orchid
with its Icelandic counterpart
Images: R. Bateman

If you're not a BSBI member, you can still see abstracts here and you can read one of the papers in full, as it has been published under an open access agreement.

The open access paper gives the results of a floristic survey of Fair Isle by C. V. Quinteros Penafiel (from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh) and colleagues.

There are also three papers on orchids, including two co-authored by orchid expert Prof Richard Bateman, who also published in the first issue of New Journal of Botany.

Richard's papers are, unsurprisingly, among the most frequently downloaded in the journal's history. 

Click here to read a review of one of Richard's previous papers on the iconic Military Orchid and its pollinators.

Taraxacum hibernicola, one of the Dandelions
described by Prof John Richards in his new paper
Image: Paul Green

You will also find a paper by Simon Smart and colleagues analysing changes in the abundance of common plants across Wales over decades; Keith Kirby and Rob Thomas investigate the impacts of a management plan to restore a broadleaved woodland in southern England; Scandinavian botanist Torbjorn Tyler looks at Hawkweeds, John Richards reports on new Dandelion records from Ireland and describes four new species; and alongside these familiar names, we were delighted to publish first-time author Margaret Harris's morphometric study of Knapweeds.

To find out about the other papers in this final issue, check out the Editorial here by Editor-in-Chief Ian Denholm.

All BSBI members have online access to all papers published in New Journal of Botany over the past seven years - that applies even if you join BSBI today. And plans are well advanced to put together a new platform for publishing botanical research so watch this space in the New Year!

New Year Plant Hunt 2018: invitation to take part

Winter Heliotrope blooming in Devon
New Year's Day 2017
Image: Karen Woolley

For the seventh consecutive year, you are cordially invited to take part in BSBI's New Year Plant Hunt. 

We encourage plant lovers across Britain and Ireland to go out and record any wild flowers you can find in bloom over the New Year period. 

This year's New Year Plant Hunt runs from Saturday 30th December until Tuesday 2nd January 2018.

To find out more about this year's Hunt, how to take part and how to follow everyone's results as they come in, please visit this page.

You can go out recording on your own, or with friends and family, or you might prefer to join an organised group - click here to see some of the group meetings we know about or contact your County Recorder to see if anything is planned in your local area.

Ciara with a Shepherd's-Purse spotted
in bloom during the 2017 New Year
Plant Hunt in Leicester
Image: Keechy Akkerman

Last year we introduced a recording app to help you record plants you spotted in bloom and to make it quicker for us to process your records - we received more than 7,000 records last year so it is no longer possible to copy over your finds from spreadsheets and tweets! 

The app worked well but this year we have tried to make things even easier for you. There is a very simple recording form which you can use on your smartphone or on your computer. More details here on how to use the form. 

If you run into any problems, you can email the New Year Plant Hunt support team at nyplanthunt@bsbi.org

Ciara, Ellen, Jo, Richard and I (Louise) will be working shifts and ready to help you with any queries. 

Also on the support team this year are BSBI Database Officer Tom Humphrey (technical advice), Ian Denholm, ace botanist and Chair of BSBI's Board of Trustees (who can advise on any particularly tricky plant identifications) and BSBI Head of Science Kevin Walker, whose real work starts once all the records are in - he will be analysing them and then reporting back on what they tell us. 

Some of the flowers spotted blooming
in East Sussex, 2nd January 2017
Image: Kate Gold

We will need to receive all your records by midnight on Friday, 5th January so Kevin can get started on his analysis and report back to all of us (and to our media contacts) before the end of the month.

The idea of the New Year Plant Hunt is to build up a clearer picture of which plants are in bloom in the middle of winter and how this might be changing over time.

In 2016 we recorded a total of 611 different taxa (species, hybrids and escaped garden cultivars) and in 2017 that total was 492, once Head of Science Kevin Walker had been through all the records and removed any duplicates, mis-identifications or invalid records.

New Year Plant Hunters in West Cork,
Ireland, 2017
Image: Clare Heardman

In 2017, more people took part in the Hunt than ever before and we received more lists but we actually recorded fewer kinds of plants than the previous year when weather was a little milder. 

It will be interesting to see how the recent snow across much of the country affects what we find in bloom this time. 

Watch this space from 30th December for daily reports on the 2018 New Year Plant Hunt. 

You can also follow results as they come in on this page or via our Twitter feed. Happy hunting!