BSBI Welsh Officer is back!

This week, BSBI welcomes back its Welsh Officer, Polly Spencer-Vellacott, from maternity leave. She has already posted on her Blog where there are some photos of Polly along with the reason for her absence (the adorable Jay). 

Here's a photo of Polly at the recent Recorders Conference with Scottish Officer Jim McIntosh and Head of Ops Jane Houldsworth. Polly is also in the foreground in this picture of BSBI members at Cookham, on one of the field meetings following the AGM last year.

BSBI members at Cookham

The best  news is that we have Polly back but we keep Paul Green, who has been acting Welsh Officer during Polly's maternity leave.

Paul has done some great work - a successful Polypodium workshop last spring, and he manned the stand at Treborth's Big Science Day. 
Paul and Polly are going to share the Welsh Officer post - more details on Polly's Blog - so BSBI now has two Welsh Semi-Officers. Best of both worlds!  
   

Paul at the Polypodium workshop
Photo: C. Gait

Hoping to catch up with Polly and Paul at the AEM in November, but better get my skates on - I hear from Uta, who is co-ordinating bookings for the AEM, that they are flooding in and the list for herbarium tours is filling up.

Have you sent in your booking yet? 

BTW I can't remember who took the photo of us at Cookham - if you know, please get in touch so I can insert a photographer credit.

BSBI News: part two. 

Lynne's champagne moment
Image: J. Clare  

From aquatic plants in restored Yorkshire canals to Mike Wilcox's hybrid hazels, figworts and thistles, from updates on Red List plant taxa (Pete Stroh, Kevin Walker and Simon Leach) to where Butterbur is native in Britain, there's just so much to read in the latest BSBI News. Like the full account of Lynne Farrell's final tetrad on Mull, as previewed here in August, and notes from the three country officers and the new Head of Operations. 

And when you reach the end of this issue, the good news is that there are 121 back issues - starting with the very first, in 1972, and going right up to September last year - now available on the website and you don't need to be a member to view or download them for personal use. 

Man x Monkey Orchid: page 34 of News #124
Image: M.R. Chalk

BSBI News helps you keep your finger on the society's pulse and tap into what members are observing or thinking about. As Receiving Editor Trevor James points out, "Over the years, it has not only been an important means of communicating news about current activity and contacts to members, but also has developed into an important vehicle for keeping people abreast of current understanding about our plants and their study." Yes, quite: BSBI News has, after all, been lauded in the Telegraph although I can't possibly agree with Ken Thompson's comments about New Journal of Botany.   

My favourite item in this issue comprises a few lines on page 57. Mel Linney, having read about the local BSBI group in VC55, is keen to hear at this address from "anyone who may be interested in forming a botany group in South Yorkshire" and has scheduled two meetings for 2014 to get things started. Details will be in the Field Meetings calendar and you can pick up a copy at the AEM in November. Good luck, Mel - let us know how you get on!

BSBI local field meeting, VC55
Image: L. Marsh 

Least favourite item in this issue? The very sad news in the Stop Press section about recent developments at the National Museum, Wales. Gwynn Ellis, General Editor of BSBI News, expresses his concern that "the curation of the Herbarium and the provision of botanical services in general looks to be very unsatisfactory for the future." He continues, "I am sure all members will join with me in hoping that, even at this eleventh hour, some way will be found to keep the Vascular Plant Section staffed by the same botanists at a level commensurate with their expertise and standing." 

BSBI News. 

The gardens at RBGE. Image: I. Denholm.  

Last week, BSBI members enjoyed the thrice-yearly thrill of anticipation that accompanies finding the latest issue of BSBI News on the doormat. 

You can go straight for the main course and sit down with News, expecting to be engrossed for the next few hours. Or you can enjoy the hors d'oeuvres, like the flyer inside BSBI News no.124 which offers BSBI members a 20% discount on John Edgington's forthcoming book, 'Who found our ferns?' 

BSBI wins Birdfair Best Stand Award 2013 (Conservation)
Image: L. Marsh

There are booking forms in this issue for the Scottish Annual Meeting (offering a tour of the herbarium at RBGE) on 2nd November and for the AEM (with the chance of a guided tour of the NHM herbarium) on 23rd November. 

The two meetings are widely acknowledged as annual highlights in the botanical world, but the chance to go behind-the-scenes at two of Britain's 'Big Three' herbaria must be the cherry on the cake! 

Sarah, Lynne and Ian at "Meetings"
Image: L. Marsh

The back cover of this issue of News displays my favourite photograph from Birdfair - apologies for showing you this again (on left) but 'Best Stand Award 2013 (Conservation)' - can you really blame me?

Opening up BSBI News, there's the usual dilemma - which way to look first? Eyes left to the first batch of colour photographs (this issue has some gorgeous ones of Michael Chalk's to accompany his note on Man x Monkey Orchid Orchis x bergonii)? Or eyes right to skim down 'Contents' and note that this issue is 72 pages long. That's comparatively slim for BSBI News, which is sometimes 100+ pages, but the length is determined by how many suitable submissions the editors (Gwynn and Trevor) receive. 

Laura at Big Nature Day, NHM
Image: O. Pescott

So if you want even more in your News, it's up to all of us to contribute - you don't necessarily have to be a member to submit an article, but it should be of relevance to the BSBI membership. Ask Trevor if in doubt. 

Notes from our new President Ian Denholm kick off this issue; he offers us a potted history of his (botanical) life so far, thanks his predecessor, Ian Bonner, and brings us up to speed on recent developments in the society.

Ian Denholm at the State of Nature launch, NHM
Image: L. Marsh

Great to read Ian's comment that he is "personally very committed to ... strengthening our external profile among potential sponsors, other related organisations, the media and the public at large". 

Ian writes about the outreach events BSBI has attended this year - like 'Big Nature Day' (above right) - and he thanks and acknowledges the BSBI volunteers who made possible our successes.

Ian on the stand at Birdfair
Image: L. Marsh

You'd expect no less from a President who has been the driving force behind all BSBI's recent publicity and outreach initiatives: whether co-ordinating and advising on strategy in his role as Chair of Meetings & Communications Committee (above left); engaging with conservationists and journalists (above) or happily pitching in on exhibition stands (right). 

I'm only on page four of News and already I've filled up a whole Blogpost! Part the second will have to follow, once I've read David Hambler's piece on page 5 about the intriguingly-named Salicornia obscura - only in BSBI News...

Which herbarium is Chris in this week? 

Euphrasia scottica.
Image: J. Crellin 

Chris Metherell, currently writing a BSBI handbook on Euphrasia (Eyebrights), has been telling me about all the herbaria he is visiting as part of the research process. 

A fortnight ago, Chris was at the South London Botanical Institute, refinding a type specimen long thought lost, and last week he was back in his local herbarium (HAMU) at the Hancock Museum. As Chris says, "having an herbarium nearby means that I've been able to order up loans from all over the shop for the Euphrasia project - Vienna, Prague, Copenhagen, Florence and Paris, not to mention several UK herbaria. Brilliant - the wild flower world comes to your doorstep!"  

While a dried specimen of Euphrasia (right) may not have the obvious charms of the living plant (above), the plant characters essential for ID can be seen clearly on a well-mounted herbarium sheet. A good specimen, dried and stored under optimal conditions, can be a valuable scientific resource centuries after it was picked, if accompanied by the essential details: who collected the plant, where and when.  

Chris happily acknowledges that "writing the Euphrasia handbook would be quite impossible without the help of various curators." And he is full of admiration for the efforts of the solitary curator at the Hancock who has charge of all the collections, not just botany. Chris said "Poor chap's run off his feet!" 

Chris Metherell examines Euphrasia sheets at HAMU.

With John Richards, BSBI referee for Taraxacum, Chris has been trying to encourage volunteering and they are both setting up a working party to integrate two recently acquired herbaria into the collection, one from the University of Newcastle and the other of the late George Swan. 

If you think you might be able to help out at HAMU, please send me an email and I can pass it on to Chris for you. And the Hancock does host botany courses so maybe some students will also be inspired to use, and go on to volunteer in, the herbarium?

Natives vs aliens II: David Pearman on Countryfile.

David Pearman and a rather large hogweed, northern Turkey

We have a broadcast date of 7pm this Sunday, 29th September, when you can see former BSBI President David Pearman on 'Countryfile' on BBC1. He will be challenging some preconceptions about the behaviour of 'alien invaders and native thugs' in the UK. The programme will be available all next week on iPlayer so you can listen to it again at leisure. And you can see 'Alien Invaders', the discussion paper co-authored by David, here. 

This subject does seem to be "trending" at the moment. A paper by Prof Rob Marrs and colleagues on 'Over-dominance in British woodland ground flora: a potential cause of reduced species-richness?' is to be published in the next (December) print issue of New Journal of Botany.  

Rob peering at some bracken rhizomes.

Their abstract begins "The invasion of native habitats by alien species has received considerable attention. In Britain, however, high levels of dominance by a small number of aggressive native plant species may have an equal, or greater, impact on the richness of native woodlands". Rob looked at five dominant native species - Ivy, Bramble, Nettle, Dog's Mercury and Bracken - and his findings make interesting reading.

Do take a look at the paper, which should be available on-line in the next few weeks: if you are a member, you can head over here, log in and start reading - email Alex if you've forgotten the password. If you're not yet a member, you could pay £233 for an annual institutional subscription to NJB, but I'm sure you'd rather join BSBI (£25) and receive three free copies a year and on-line access whenever you like. Otherwise you may never know what Rob discovered about those 'native thugs'...

What the Irish BSBI members are up to...

Image: M. Long

There are some great photographs of plants and people on the new Facebook page set up by Irish BSBI members, including this one (right) showing one of the Irish botanists and what looks like a pyramidal orchid. 

Image: P. Lenihan

The Irish BSBI Facebook page is an ideal way to keep up-to-date with all things botanical in Ireland, and Irish Officer Maria Long is obviously doing a great job organising field meetings in some stunning locations... 

Attendance figures at their field meetings are pretty impressive, and it's great to hear more about what the Irish botanists are up to. Especially as (apart from some final paperwork) we are now almost the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland. 

And don't forget the original BSBI Facebook page - link via the homepage on the website or here. Here's to a blossoming of botanical activity on all our islands!

Herbaria large and small

Sir Hans Sloane's herbarium sheets at NHM

The herbarium at the Natural History Museum is a wonder to behold. 

It houses the collection of Sir Hans Sloane, the C17th Irish collector.
His 265 volumes of pressed specimens are housed (each in its own temperature- and humidity-controlled cabinet) in a purpose-built special collections room.  

Cabinets housing the 
Sloane volumes

You can see them for yourself, and also see some of the Natural History Museum's other specimens by celebrated collectors, like Darwin himself, if you join one of our behind-the-scenes Herbarium tours at the Annual Exhibition meeting in November. 

If you received your copy of BSBI News today, it contains a flyer about the AEM. Almost 3,000 fellow members received the same flyer as you, so if you want to join a herbarium tour, you'd better get your application in soon - the list fills up rapidly! 

But some herbaria are much more humble. BSBI Administrator Clive Lovatt has a small herbarium at home, housed in a cabinet once owned by a hero of his, J.W. White, author of the Flora of Bristol (1912). 

Clive's modest but much-loved herbarium
Image: C. Lovatt

Clive tells me, "My herbarium is overflowing - I need to buy another cabinet! We've found lots of interesting alien species around Bristol this year: the bronze New Zealand Carex comans self-sown in a paved street a few miles away (new to Somerset) and I've had two Physalis species without so much as going near a sewage works (which is where the last Bristol records were)". 

I expect that Clive has pressed some specimens of these interesting alien species for his herbarium. Just as Sir Hans Sloane, J. W. White and many other botanists have done before him. 

Want to leave a comment and tell me about your herbarium?