New Year Plant Hunt 2025: Day Three

Day Three of this year's New Year Plant Hunt and with the Met Office forecasting heavy rain and strong winds on the way, the race was on to get out and hunt for wild or naturalised plants in bloom across Britain and Ireland. By the end of the day, the Results website was showing more than 15,000 records from 1,195 separate Hunts, and 546 different species recorded so far. Matt Harding, BSBI Scotland Officer, led a Hunt in Stirling and has sent a short report and some tips for Plant Hunters, but first I'd like to feature a couple of inspirational young botanists who are causing quite a stir.

One of our favourite photos from last year's New Year Plant Hunt was of Michael Jones' daughter Ezri, then aged just eight months old, examining one of our newly-launched spotter sheets. We're delighted to report that a year on, Ezri is still enjoying her botany (particularly white and purple flowers) and has graduated to the more targeted 'England's Top 20' spotter sheet (image above right). As proud dad Michael says, the New Year Plant Hunt is a "fab family thing to do".

Our other botanical Hunt Heroine is Ada, who James told you about in last night's blogpost. She was out plant hunting again today with proud dad Dan Ryan and her fashion sense is causing as much of a stir as her botanical expertise. 

Whether she's examining Three-Cornered Leek (image on left), checking out a patch of sweet-smelling Winter Heliotrope or zooming in on a Daisy, with her fabulous 'winged unicorn' coat, teamed with colourful leggings and a selection of bobble hats, Ada's status as a style icon is now firmly established and we are all upping our game to try to be more like Ada. 

But the New Year Plant Hunt isn't just about inspirational young female botanists - it's also about the dogs and horses who join us on our Hunts and oh yes, it's also about the plants - I haven't forgotten them! 

In Ireland, Oisin and Mairead reported "slim pickings" on their Hunt up in Donegal but down in Cork City, where it's considerably warmer, Finbarr notched up 46 species, including Common Whitlow-grass and Greater Burnet-Saxifrage. 

Botanists in Cornwall, with the 'seaside version'
of Wild Carrot in the foreground
Image: Dave Steere

Lizzie found 29 species in bloom in Ammanford, West Wales; in South Wales, Peter spotted Lesser Celandine in bloom and in mid-Wales, Hilary did her first ever Hunt and decreed it "a great end to a good year". 

Notable finds in England today included Sea Campion and Rock Samphire in Cornwall; Hemlock in Kent; Annual Bugloss near London; Sweet Violets and Snapdragons in Cambridge; Annual Knawel in Bedfordshire and Small Nettle in Whitby 

Further north the weather was less kind to plant hunters - it was "blowing a hoolie" in the Borders - but let's go over to BSBI Scotland Officer Matt Harding for his update:

Rosy Cress in Stirling today
Image: Matt Harding

"Seven hardy souls braved the biblical forecast, and after a grotty first hour were rewarded with blue skies, flowers galore and a wind that nearly blew us off the top of the Stirling volcanic plug.

We managed to search out a whopping 45 species in flower, beating our 2024 total by three species! This total might be the work of a moment as you potter along the Dorset coastline, but in Scotland is quite a result. Last year the average Plant Hunt list in Scotland was six species long…

Compared to last year, we missed several larger-leaved species that the recent frosts had knocked back, e.g. Hawkweeds, Prickly Sow-thistle, Red Valerian and Scentless Mayweed. However, these were more than compensated for by new finds such as Henbit Dead-nettle, a locally scarce species, Canadian Fleabane, a recent colonist, Sticky Groundsel and Barren Strawberry.

Matt's Top Tips for Plant Hunting in Scotland (and beyond?):

• Head for the towns and cities: The urban heat island effect is incredibly helpful for prolonging flowering times. It’s all very well walking through beautiful countryside with glorious mountain views, but chances are you’ll just have Gorse to show for your efforts.
• Go for grotty spots: The most productive areas are often sheltered corners of wasteland, lurking behind walls, along road verges etc. If it is the kind of spot that will have Annual Meadow-grass, Petty Spurge, Groundsel, Thale Cress and Smooth Sow-thistle), then there is a pretty good chance that some or all of them will still be in flower, mixed in with the abandoned bottles of Buckfast. Don’t forget to check the walls as well – species such as Yellow Corydalis and Wood Meadow-grass can be spotted, as well as more familiar species like Ivy-leaved Toadflax.
• Do some prep: Build in some poking around time during your Christmas shopping, to reccie likely spots. This year a little preparation in the run-up to Christmas allowed us to focus on more productive wasteland corners and car park margins, and avoid previously rewarding spots that had been stripped of flowers by the recent frosts. I also spotted Rosy Cress in bud in early December on King’s Park walls on the edge of Stirling, and a quick visit on New Year’s Eve revealed one plant in rather glorious flower for the Plant Hunt.
• Think about aspect and potential sun traps: In Stirling, the Back Walk consists of a rising path below basalt cliffs facing south-west, sheltered by woodland on one side and the old town walls on the other, creating optimum conditions for late flowerers. This is always a productive area for our Plant Hunts, with highlights including Hare’s-foot Clover, Holly and Ivy, otherwise in bud, are good bets for flowering along this section
• Get a group going: The more pairs of eyes, the more you will spot.
• Above all, look closely: It’s surprising how many flowers have visible stamens when you double-check with a hand lens".

Thanks Matt! So, if you're going out plant hunting tomorrow for our fourth and final day of this year's New Year Plant Hunt, do follow Matt's tips, do check the weather forecast (and the Group Hunts listing if you were planning to join a group Hunt, just in case it had to be cancelled due to bad weather) and finally, do use the BSBI recording app to upload your records. 

Good luck, Happy New Year and we hope to see you back here tomorrow night for our final round-up.