New Year Plant Hunt 2019: invitation to take part

Three-cornered leek flowering in Ireland
New Year Plant Hunt 2018
Image: Paul Green 

For the eighth 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 holiday.

Here's a reminder of how to take part using our online recording form:

1. Pick one day between Saturday 29th December 2018 and Tuesday 1st January 2019, when the weather is decent enough to record in.

2. Record wild and naturalised plants (but not planted or garden species) in flower. Please check plants are actually flowering – that catkins are open, that grasses have open florets, stigmas or anthers on show etc. 

Gorse blooming by the sea in Devon
New Year Plant Hunt 2018
Image: Sue Young

3. Record for up to 3 hours (you can “stop the clock” for tea-breaks, lunch and comfort stops!). You can contribute as many different lists as you like from different areas as long as you don’t exceed the 3 hour limit for each new list.

4. Send us details of what you saw, with photos if possible please: tell us which species you recorded (we can help with identification if you are stuck!), what your name is, and where and when you saw the plants in flower. 

You can either record while out in the field using your smartphone or wait until you get home and access the online recording form on your computer. 

Ivy-leaved toadflax blooming in Derbyshire
New Year Plant Hunt 2018
Image: Alan Roe

You'll be able to follow everyone's results in real time as they come in on our interactive map here, via daily reports on this News & Views blog and you can also follow the action on social media.

There's a team of people on hand to support you throughout and you can contact us at nyplanthunt@bsbi.org

Find out more - and see results from previous years - on the New Year Plant Hunt webpage here.

Happy hunting!