BSBI News: April issue is published

This blogpost should have gone out hours ago but I made the mistake of opening up my advance copy of the latest issue of BSBI News - just so I could find out what was in there and report to all of you - and suddenly it's nearly midnight! 

There is just so much to read in the latest issue - 84 pages to delight botanists at all skill levels. Congratulations to editor Andrew Branson for doing such an amazing job.

The issue opens with an article by Simon Leach summarising recent amendments to the Red Data List for British plants -  which species have been added to the main list (this includes species new to Britain), which have been re-classified (Goldilocks Aster amended from Least Concern to Vulnerable, Diaphonous Bladder-fern makes the same journey in the opposite direction) and one very familiar species has been dropped from the Red List altogether...

Better not give away too many spoilers here! But it's probably a good time to remind readers that this latest issue of BSBI News is only available to BSBI members. It is one of the main perks of membership so if you haven't joined BSBI yet, head over here to read about some of the other benefits of membership and then here to subscribe. 

Your copy of BSBI News will be posted to you - along with a bumper welcome pack of delights - as soon as we've processed your subscription.

New Year Plant Hunters in Leicester
Image: L. Marsh

But BSBI News isn't just about Red Lists and new species, although Matt Berry's list of 'trending species' and new county records does make fascinating reading, as does the article by Andy Jones & Fred Rumsey about an over-looked species of Myosotis (forget-me-nots) which "seemed not to occur in Britain or Ireland" or Alexis Fitzgerald's note about the wool alien Toothed Fireweed making itself at home in Co. Dublin. 

This latest issue of BSBI News also has much to offer the beginner botanist or anyone with a more general interest in British and Irish wild flowers: there's an article on how to photograph wild flowers successfully; there's a note on how to "speak fern" which de-mystifies some of the jargon surrounding this lovely group of plants; and there's a summary of New Year Plant Hunt finds and how they correlate with changing weather patterns. 

Gagea bohemica
Find out more about this lovely plant in
the report from the BSBI Wales Officer
Image: B. Brown  

There are also round-ups from all four Country Officers, this issue's 'Introducing my vice-county' feature focuses on Montgomeryshire, and I haven't even mentioned the five short articles, the book reviews, the notes, such as the one about this year's BSBI Photographic Competition, the personal view on eradicating Himalayan Balsam, based on experiences in Angus... 

Oh did I tell you about all the flyers tucked inside the magazine, such as the pre-publication offer on the new Flora of Bute, exclusive to BSBI members? Or the mouth-watering colour photos of plants you just don't see every day...  

I could tell you more but if I'm honest I'd really like to get back to reading my copy of BSBI News now, so you'll just have to wait until your own copy arrives!