British & Irish Botany: issue 7.2 published

Lady's-slipper Orchid
Image courtesy of
Rob Still & Chris Gibson
https://plantatlas2020.org/atlas
/2cd4p9h.xh1

We've just published the latest issue of British & Irish Botany, the online, Open Access scientific journal of the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI). This new issue contains seven papers which we think will be of interest to botanists across Britain and Ireland and - very much so, regarding one of the papers! - also to readers further afield.

In addition to original research articles, British & Irish Botany also welcomes forum articles—short pieces that express a view on a particular topic, intended to stimulate debate and advance ideas. The first article in this issue is a thought-provoking opinion piece by Dave Trudgill on the reintroduction programmes for the Lady's-slipper Orchid (Cypripedium calceolus) which examines the successes and challenges of the scheme and raises important questions about its long-term sustainability. We are aware that this is a sensitive and potentially contentious topic, and we expect to publish a response presenting an alternative perspective in the next issue.

Our second paper is about the first records from Britain and Ireland of a new hybrid comfrey, Symphytum x ferrariense, the hybrid between Common Comfrey (S. officinale) and White Comfrey (S. orientale). Bob Leaney et al. report on newly-discovered populations in Cambridgeshire, Cheshire and Norfolk. Bob is well-known to many readers, both via his previous publications on comfreys and also his many helpful plant ID resources, a selection of which can be found on our Plant Identification for experienced botanists page. 

Symphytum x ferrariense
Image: Bob Leaney

Then we have a paper about drift seeds washed up on our shores. Dan Minchin et al. report on achenes of sea-grapes (Coccoloba spp.) recorded in Co. Sligo and Co. Cork -these are believed to be the first such records on European shores. Sea-grapes occur on American Atlantic coasts, from Bermuda to Argentina, so these achenes are presumed to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean.

Next up is a paper by Chris Skilbeck and Michael Wilcox investigating variation in British restharrows (Ononis spp.). Using morphological observations and flow cytometry, they examined intermediates between tetraploid Common Restharrow (O. repens) and diploid Spiny Restharrow (O. spinosa). Contrary to expectations that such intermediates would be triploid, they found all to be diploid - suggesting these plants may represent a form of O. spinosa or a hybrid derivative that has undergone diploidisation.

Ononis repens
Image: C. Skilbeck

This paper is particularly poignant as Chris Skilbeck (1970-2025) passed away unexpectedly just a week before publication. Chris was a Scientific Associate at the Natural History Museum, London, where he worked on taxonomic problems in the British flora and contributed significantly to their herbarium collections. He was also an active member of the BSBI and a regular contributor to British & Irish Botany, producing articles on achene dispersal in the Asteraceae, on achene morphology of British and Irish Mayweeds and Chamomiles and on intermediates between Sea and Scentless Mayweed in Orkney. Chris will be greatly missed by all who knew him, and our thoughts are with his family at this very sad time.

We then have a summary of the current state of the montane and submontane plants of the Moffat Hills in Dumfriesshire by Chris Miles, BSBI's Vice-County Recorder. Chris has been surveying the Hills in an attempt to refind the 63 plant species recorded there by Derek Ratcliffe in 1958 and determine their current distribution, and we can now hear the results of his hunts. 

Next up, we have a paper by Tim Rich et al. describing three new endemic species of British hawkweed. Tim is one of our most prolific contributors. In our last issue, we published a paper by Tim and Libby Houston in which they make a number of new combinations in Sorbus ahead of the publication of their highly anticipated second edition of BSBI Handbook no. 14: Whitebeams, Rowans and Service Trees. The new Handbook will also include other members of the Rose family (Rosaceae) so to complete this issue, we are pleased to publish a paper by Mike Fay et al. with eight new combinations in pears (Pyrus spp.) and a new combination for a species of Cotoneaster naturalised in Kent. We'll be telling you more about the forthcoming Handbook as soon as it nears publication and as always, there will be a hefty discount for BSBI members buying a copy. 

We hope that you will enjoy the latest issue of our journal and as always we would encourage you to get in touch with us (Stuart and Louise) if you have research you'd like to publish about the British and Irish flora. Either email us for an informal chat or bite the bullet, check these submission guidelines and send us your contribution. We look forward to hearing from you! 

Interview with Dr Brenda Harold, who created Identiplant

Brenda (on left) & Dr Chantal Helm, 
BSBI Training Coordinator, at the 2024
British & Irish Botanical Conference 

Today’s interview is with Dr Brenda Harold, who created Identiplant, the very popular online plant identification course. Brenda has been a BSBI member for 57 years, served on BSBI Council from 2007 to 2011 and on our Training Committee from 2008 to 2017. Brenda’s achievements were acknowledged with a special presentation at the 2024 British & Irish Botanical Conference and I caught up with her recently on a Zoom call to find out more about how she first got interested in botany and how she went on to create Identiplant.

LM: Hi Brenda, can you please share how your passion for botany began?

BH: I was born with a fascination for plants although I grew up in London with no access at all to the countryside and not knowing anyone interested in wildlife. I wanted to be a scientist but didn’t consider biology until I had to choose my A-level subjects, when I asked for chemistry, physics, pure maths and botany. The school was unable to timetable that, but said that I could swap botany for zoology. That was the moment when I realised that botany was my greatest interest and I changed to botany, zoology, chemistry and physics.

Brenda aged 15 months and
already showing an interest
in plants!

After school I got a place at UCL (1961-64), and did the most brilliant, brilliant botany degree course. I learnt absolutely everything about plants, including microbiology and plenty of genetics. And from there I just wanted to take botany as far as I could so I stayed on as a PhD student with the project title: “Cytogenetic Studies in the Genus Potentilla”.

LM: And of course, you went on to join the BSBI and in 1969 you were invited to become our expert Referee for Potentilla (a photo of Brenda's Referee invitation letter, signed pp the legendary Frank Perring, can be seen below right). 

BH: I became a referee so early because of the publication of my PhD. I had been immersed in Potentilla spp. (cinquefoils) for three years and by then I could spot one from a mile off. Having made my own Potentilla hybrids, I knew which species would and wouldn’t cross and how their chromosomes paired, aiding greatly in my identification abilities. It was also during this time that my PhD supervisor, Jack Ellis, suggested that I joined BSBI, which is why I’ve been a member for so long! 

A highlight of my research actually happened two years after my PhD, when I managed to recreate Potentilla anglica, confirming that the species is an allopolyploid. I took over the referee position in 1970, and on average I received half a dozen identification requests each year. Once or twice, I received a large bundle of pressings from someone sorting through an herbarium collection, and I had to cover the whole floor to sort through them!  As part of my role, in 2021 I also produced two Potentilla training webinars (supported by the National Parks and Wildlife Service): part one  and part two are still available to watch on YouTube.

LM: How did you get into teaching after university?

BH: Growing up I was certain that I didn’t want to become a teacher so I didn’t take a teaching certificate. However, when I finished my studentship in 1967, a vacancy arose at Westfield College for someone to teach genetics and botany and I was invited to apply. This was an offer that I couldn’t refuse. My first lecture at Westfield was teaching genetics to 70 first year biology students, and I was absolutely terrified. But by the end of that lecture, I knew that I wanted to teach. I discovered that I had an ability to explain things well, and that all that mattered was the subject and the students, not how I spoke or what I looked like. I realised what a privilege it is to be able to pass on such interesting material to others. By the end of term, my real ambition was to become a senior tutor, and to move away from research.

LM: What did you do after you left Westfield College?

BH: I left Westfield after five years in 1972 and didn’t return to full-time work until my second daughter started school. During this period I did however do loads of part-time work, including working as a genetics tutor for the Open University and then at Brunel University. During one of Brunel University’s cutbacks, I was told that the university couldn’t afford to have any more part-timers, but there was a full-time botany position available. Just like the position at Westfield, it was the most incredible good luck, as I was able to return to full-time work just as my daughter started school. Ensuring excellent teaching quality was my main focus and, for example, I introduced student feedback questionnaires after modules. I undertook a number of positions within the Biology Department at Brunel, including Director of Studies, Senior Tutor, and finally Deputy Head of the Department. I also became Chair of the University Senior Tutors Committee.

LM: When did you start to become serious about field botany?

BH: Despite committing my career to botany and plant genetics, I still lacked decent field skills. It was only in 1990, when my two girls were becoming independent that I had time to develop my interest. I began by creating a large photo library, which was the only way I could remember all of the names. I first decided that I would not take any photos of orchids as beautiful photos of them are two-a-penny! Instead, I focused on common British “weeds” such as Chickweed Stellaria media and Daisy Bellis perennis.

LM: Two lovely species – if they were as rare as orchids, I think we’d all be knocking ourselves out about them! But which ID books were you using at the time?

BH: I was using Fitter, Fitter and Blamey’s Wild Flowers of Britain and Northern Europe, which I always recommended to absolute beginners. I also used the identification keys in New Flora of the British Isles by Clive Stace. Due to my background, almost from the beginning if I found an unknown plant I could eventually work out what it was, and be confident whether I was right.

LM: I gather that even after taking early retirement from the University in 1997, you continued to practice teaching?

BH: Yes, after my retirement, I remained busy. I began by attending field courses at different Field Studies Council (FSC) centres and “graduated” to tutoring them myself. My first FSC course was a Beginner’s Guide to Wildflowers, which Sue Dancey asked me to do. Sue was the Head of the Preston Montford Field Centre and I’ve always had the utmost respect for her. FSC Preston Montford was always such a happy, well-run place, which speaks highly of Sue’s work.

LM: I’m just jumping in here Brenda to say that I couldn’t agree more! Sue’s work at the FSC and alongside Sarah Whild on BSBI Skills & Training Committee was hugely important in advancing and showcasing botanical training across Britain and Ireland, not just in Shropshire! And then what happened at WEA?

BH: In 1998 I also began tutoring for the Workers Educational Association (WEA). These were daytime courses so most of the students were retired people and I was tutoring around 3 different courses per week: 10 or 20 weeks in length or occasionally shorter. By the time I finished in 2010 I had taught more than 60 different courses. My 20-week course, entitled ‘Genes Are Us’, was nominated by my students for a National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) award, which I was very proud to receive. That course was terrific fun to teach, and I found great fulfilment in introducing genetics to absolute beginners. As part of the course, I took students to the Wellcome Sanger Institute near Cambridge, and after a number of years the staff there noted that my grey-haired group were more enthusiastic and knowledgeable than the school parties! 

LM: Was it also during this time that you volunteered with the Wildlife Trust?

BH: Yes, after my retirement I also became a volunteer with Herts and Middlesex Wildlife Trust (image above left). For some years I was warden of a very small nature reserve. My role included counting the Shetland sheep (image below right) when they visited the reserve, which was particularly difficult as the sheep tended to lie down under trees and blended into the landscape due to their camouflage colours! I also joined the Trust’s team of volunteer wildlife site surveyors which comprised about 5 experts plus about 10 beginners at various levels. We went out in small groups to existing or potential wildlife sites throughout the county and carried out professional-level surveys including full species lists with indicator species noted, plus site maps and descriptions. These surveys were really important to me as they taught me survey technique, as well as being very enjoyable. 

LM: How did your experience as a volunteer site surveyor with the Wildlife Trust make you realise that there was a need for a new kind of plant ID course?

BH: During the survey sessions I saw that the beginners simply made lists of species’ common names, which were entered on to the county record card by one of the experts at the end of the session. But more than one of the beginners told me that they wanted to improve but didn’t know how to, so I decided to write a course for them. This would have to be a long course since it is not possible to acquire all the essential knowledge and observational experience in a short day or weekend course. However, they were all on email by 2010 so I decided to email the course units to them. In 2011 then, I wrote Identiplant, a course in 15 units starting in February and ending in September, which I emailed to students on alternate Fridays. I had prepared the first few units in advance but soon I was writing a new unit each fortnight.  This was possible because I used all the material from my WEA courses, which had been enjoyed by numerous students, including all of my own photographs, drawings and notes.      

Identiplant began as a small, local course, but in 2012 two friends enabled it to become a national online course: Sue Green, a retired maths teacher, built the website and learning platform, while Sue Dancey persuaded the FSC to take on the financial administration. The BSBI gave us permission to display their logo as well as advertising the course on their website and in 2013 Identiplant was launched as an online course throughout Britain and Ireland. It quickly spread and developed a life of its own, with students from Northern Scotland to Jersey and the Republic of Ireland. Each student has their own online tutor, who is an expert familiar with their own area, and the BSBI also advertised for these. I saw Identiplant as a bridge to take beginners across the difficult divide between learning plant names one by one to proper systematic identification.

British & Irish Botanical Conference 2022:
Ellen Goddard (on right) from
BSBI Skills & Training Committee
enthuses visitors about Identiplant  

LM: So, then you decided to hand the course over to BSBI in 2022 and we appointed Chantal Helm as our Training Coordinator to handle administration. Was it hard to hand over your “baby” or was it a relief?! And of course, you stayed on the Identiplant Management Team to smooth the transition.

BH: I was very happy to pass the reins over to BSBI. Sarah Woods, who helped with the business plan, and Steve Gater, who was a BSBI trustee at the time, were both greatly helpful in lessening the stress of the transfer process. Since its launch in 2013, 2,300 students have enrolled in Identiplant, highlighting its impact in educating aspiring botanists. Many of those after the course, became the plant experts in their area, commonly organising wildflower walks or other botanical activities. But the best reward is seeing how much the students who complete the course enjoy it.

LM: Yes, the feedback we receive from Identiplant alumnae – and the huge number of applicants each year – are evidence of how successful and enjoyable Identiplant is! So, what are your plans now that you’ve stepped back?

Brenda receiving the
Marsh Botany Award 2024

BH: I’ve always got a project! I spend a lot of time in my garden, which can be complicated to manage. I also have ambitions to complete another course which I started writing in 2018. It was never quite finished and has been sitting on my computer ever since. And I’m still an Identiplant tutor.

LM: That sounds exciting – I hope you’ll come back and tell us more once you’ve completed that other course! For now, can I say a big thank you to you for talking to us Brenda, it’s been fascinating to hear the story behind Identiplant which has proved instrumental in training up so many botanists and kickstarting so many careers. We all owe you a huge debt of gratitude! BSBI isn’t the only organisation keen to trumpet Brenda’s achievements: we were delighted to hear that Brenda was awarded the Marsh Botany Award 2024 for her “dedication in teaching and training many cohorts of botanists, ecologists and land managers”. She joins a small but select team of botanists, including Sarah Whild and Clive Stace, who receive this prestigious annual award due to their lifetime achievements and outstanding contributions in the field of botanical research and conservation. Congratulations to Brenda on this very well-deserved award.

Finally, can I say a big thank you here to BSBI Communications volunteer Isabelle McAllister who transcribed the interview with Brenda which was carried out via Zoom? Watch out for future interviews between Isabelle and BSBI staff members.

Urban Plants: Trevor Dines' new book about urban botany

Urban Plants by Dr Trevor Dines is published by Bloomsbury today, 5 June, and there is a special offer for BSBI members.

Trevor has been a BSBI member since 1995; he co-authored our second plant distribution atlas, devised #NoMowMay, appears regularly on TV, radio and in print promoting wild plants, and is a BSBI trustee. When it comes to botany, Trevor really knows his stuff!

Urban Plants is an account of urban botany in Britain and Ireland: its ecology, history and cultural significance. Trevor focuses on the habitats where wild plants thrive in our towns: the walls, pavements, lawns, parks, playing fields, road verges and brownfield sites (waste ground). He talks us through the many native and non-native species which co-exist in urban  habitats and tells the stories of our urban flowers, ferns and conifers: how they arrived, how they survive, and how some of them have become so very successful. 

In Urban Plants, we learn how our villages, towns and cities have changed over time – from Roman Britain to reconstruction after World War II – and the resulting geographical variation that exists in our flora today, such as London-rocket at the Tower of London or the newly evolved York Groundsel, recently discovered in a railway station carpark. 

Trevor (on right) also looks to the future and the potential impacts of invasive species, herbicides and climate change, as well as the concept of urban rewilding.

For a taste of what's in the book, check out the sample page spread below, about urban orchids, and then why not watch this short video of Trevor's talk, Untangling the Urban Jungle, given at the British & Irish Botanical Conference last November.

The book is illustrated with around 350 colour photographs, maps and diagrams, as well as text boxes exploring key species and habitats. It retails at £40 and is available right now from all good booksellers such as Summerfield Books, but BSBI members can claim an exclusive 25% discount when ordering a copy, by visiting the password-protected members' area of our website. Email us at enquiries@bsbi.org if you're a BSBI member but you've forgotten your password. Not yet a member? Join us today and then you'll be able to claim that discount!

BSBI Summer Meeting: fabulous botanising that you'll never forget!

Bookings have now opened for the 2025 BSBI Annual Summer Meeting which moves around the regions of the BSBI - this year it is being held in Melrose in the Scottish Borders. This is the BSBI's big field meeting of the year and it is always billed as a great opportunity to see some fabulous wildflowers in beautiful habitats in the company of friendly botanists. But what if you've never been to such a full-on event before: is it worth diving in or will it all be a bit intimidating?

Last summer, self-taught botanist Mandy Forde bit the bullet and booked for her first-ever Summer Meeting. Here is Mandy's account of how it went:

"When I first saw the Summer Meeting advertised it immediately sounded like an ideal opportunity to observe plants in an interesting location as well as having the potential to see plants endemic to the Channel Islands. But the panic soon set it when I considered who else would be attending, professional ecologists, County Recorders, people who could identify any sub species at 20 paces. Then there was the apprehension over Latin names. “I don’t think you’d like it” a friend who is a professional Botanist told me, “it will all be in Latin”. In 2014 I could only identify four wildflowers, but ten years on although completely self-taught I’m quite proud of how much botanical knowledge I’ve gained.

Eventually I plucked up the courage and booked.

The first day after meeting at the hotel we conducted an afternoon survey of urban plants growing in pavement cracks and walls en route to the Guernsey Museum and Herbarium with Chenopodium ficifolium (Fig-Leaved Goosefoot), Geranium purpureum (Little-Robin), Orobanche hederae (Ivy Broomrape), Trachelium caeruleum (Blue Throatwort) and Potentilla recta (Sulphur Cinquefoil) all recorded.

A survey was then carried out in Candie Cemetery where our finds included Hypericum humifusum (Trailing St John’s-wort), Asplenium adiantum-nigrum (Black Spleenwort) and a plant I found which had many debating it’s identity until it was later identified as Nothoscordum x borbonicum (Honeybells, image on left). The gravestones also provided many lichens for enthusiasts to identify.

The first evening gave an opportunity to socialise with a lovely meal at Les Cotils, a Victorian manor house, which was followed by talks from Lindsay de Sausmarez, Head of the Committee for Environment and Infrastructure and Jim Robinson, Director of the Environment.

On the first full day my chosen excursion was to the Orchid Fields at Les Vicheries, expertly led by Dr Tim Rich. The star of the show being wonderful displays of the stunning Anacamptis laxiflora (Loose-flowered Orchid, image on right) a Channel Islands rarity of wet meadows which is found on less than 25 known sites. Also abundant were Dactylorhiza fuchsii (Common Spotted-Orchid), D. maculata (Heath Spotted) and D. praetermissa (Southern Marsh) as well as suspected hybrids. Most of the fields had Oenanthe crocata (Hemlock Water-dropwort) which was being successfully ‘managed’ by a multitude of Deprassaria daucella caterpillars. Other wet meadow species included Parentucellia viscosa (Yellow Bartsia) and Ranunculus flammula (Lesser Spearwort). Trifolium glomeratum (Clustered Clover) was spotted after lunch which was followed by a delightful field where we encountered multiple Ophioglossum vulgatum (Adder’s-tongue). 

We then wandered along inland lanes surveying the shaded hedge banks finding Asplenium obovatum ssp. billotii (Lanceolate Spleenwort), Umbilicus rupestris (Navelwort), Sedum rupestre (Reflexed Stonecrop), Fumaria capreolata (White ramping-fumitory), Azolla filiculoides (Water Fern) and Briza maxima (Greater quaking-grass). I also took the opportunity to photograph insects during the surveys and at La Pomare I found of three small caterpillars which were too small to identify in the field, but with later research turned out to be early instar Emperor Moths.

A welcome chance to sit down in the evening after a busy day’s botanising brought an informative talk by Richard Hocart on the work of the Societe Guernesiaise.

My second day’s excursion was to Lihou Headland for a coastal heath survey led by BSBI’s Jonathan Worthington, which started like many botany surveys do with the group taking about 30 minutes to leave the car park where the botanising had begun with some vigour. It ended up being a day of multiple interesting Fabaceae including Trifolium ornithopodiodes (Birdsfoot Clover), T. glomeratum (Clustered Clover),T. occidentale (Western Clover), T. scabrum (Rough Clover), T. subterraneum (Subterranean Clover), T. micranthum (Slender Trefoil),Vicia lutea (Yellow Vetch), Medicago polymorpha (Toothed Medick), Lotus angustissimus (Slender Bird’-foot-trefoil) as well as Polycarpon tetraphyllum (Four-leaved Allseed), Myosotis ramosissima (Early Forget-me-not), Malva pseudolavatera (Smaller Tree-mallow), Conyza sumatrensis (Guernsey Fleabane) and my first sighting of the gorgeous Silene gallica (Small-flowered Catchfly, image below right) which was observed in two colour forms.

Our lunch stop at Le creux es faies (The Faries Hollow) provided my interesting insect of the day when I was really pleased to find three Graphosoma italicum on Smyrnium olusatrum (Alexanders). The striking black and red Mediterranean Sheildbug is now well established in the Channel Isles but didn’t reach mainland UK until 2020 with still only a few records reported. Many other coastal species were spotted but since I live by the coast myself their presence didn’t seem as worthy of note to me due to their familiarity as the species I’ve quoted above.

The evening talk by Angela Salmon, Director of Guernsey Conservation Volunteers was a fascinating insight into the society's gallant efforts to attempt to eradicate Allium triquetrum (Three-cornered Garlic) and Carpobrotus edulis (Sour Fig).

My third day’s excursion was to survey beach habitat from Rousse to Grande Havre with expert identification led by Dr Tim Rich and John Poland. My first sighting was a fascinating fungi growing on a rotting boat in the car park, which I think was Pseudohydnum galatinosum. Interesting plants of the day included all three colour forms of the delicate Silene gallica (Small-flowered Catchfly), Spergularia bocconei (Greek Sea Spurrey), Trifolium suffocatum (Suffocated Clover), large clumps of Salpichroa origaniflora (Cock’s-eggs) pointed out by John Poland, Cataponium ssp rigidum (Fern Grass), Gnaphalium undulatum (Cape Cudweed), Oenothera stricta (Fragrant evening-primrose), Rumex pulcher (Fiddle Dock), beautiful Matthiola sinuata (Sea Stock) as well as the deeper purple flowering M. incana (Hoary Stock, image below left). We then headed inland to find Salvia verbenacea (Whorled Clary), Trifolium ornithopodiodes (Fenugreek), Fumaria capreolata (White Ramping) and F. bastardii (Tall Ramping-fumitory) thankfully expertly identified by Tim and an interesting find of Scorzonera humilis (Viper’s Grass) on a damp roadside verge where more Anacamptis laxiflora was swaying in the gentle breeze.

Thursday evening was a visit to the National Trust property Les Caches where the Societie Guernesiaise delighted us with a traditional Guernsey meal of ‘Bean Jar’ followed by Guernsey ‘Gache’ with lovely local ale and cider.

The final morning offered the opportunity to branch out by ourselves to visit habitats we’d not had the chance to see earlier in the week.  I was extremely lucky to find myself with local County Recorder Helen Litchfield who led a fantastic 5 hour expedition to many sites where Lynne Farrell, John Poland and myself were expertly shown plants and insects we would probably have searched all day to find ourselves, but of course Helen knew exactly where to look, right down to the exact centimetre. Highlights were Polygala serpyllifolia (Heath Milkwort), Cicendia filiformis (Yellow Centaury), Ornithopus pinnatus (Orange Birdsfoot), Hypericum humifusum (Trailing Toadflax) and Hypochaeris glabra (Smooth Cat’s-ear) at Fort Doyle. We then saw a large number of fabulous Orobanche purpurea (Yarrow Broomrape) at Grand Havre. On then to Port Soif for a delightful display of Ophrys apifera (Bee Orchid) and Anancamptis pyramidalis (Pyramidal Orchid), Geranium columbinum (Long-stalked Crane’s-bill) and the fantastic Bupleurum baldense (Small Hare’s-ear, image below right). 

A detour to an inland lane followed where Helen showed us Asplenium x microdon (Guernsey Fern) which had thankfully been saved from strimming unlike the fate of the rest of the hedgerow. Then on to the cliffs at Les Tielles where we hoped to see the rare butterfly Melitaea cinxia (Glanville Fritillary). Right on cue they began to fly past us and obligingly landed long enough for us to get some great photographs (image below left), a habit butterflies aren’t usually that willing to undertake. Cytisus scoparius ssp maritimus (Prostrate Broom) was also seen as well as Euphorbia portlandica (Portland Spurge), the rare Viola kitaibeliana (Dwarf Pansy), Hypericum linarifolium (Toadflax-leaved St John’s-wort) and Lotus subbiflorous (Hairy Bird’s-foot trefoil). I also managed to photograph two mating Andrena agilissima (Violet-winged Mining Bees) another insect local to the Channel Islands which I was really pleased to see.

What a truly wonderful final day for which I’m so grateful to Helen. I honestly don’t  think I’ve ever encountered so many first time sightings or said ‘wow’ so may times in one day!

Even the coach journeys each day provided glorious displays of Gladiolus illyricus (Wild Gladiolus), Allium ampeloprasum (Wild Leek), swathes of Lagurus ovatus (Hare’s-tail), Malva arborea (Tree Mallow) and Echium pininana (Giant Viper’s-Bugloss aka Guernsey Rocket) - not your everyday bus botanising species.

What an interesting group of people to spend time with, glorious weather, beautiful habitats, some rare insects and of course the abundance of plants, many of which I’d never even heard of and undoubtedly would never have seen had I not travelled to Guernsey and been in the company of such experts both local and BSBI Summer Meeting attendees. As expected recording was mostly in Latin, but people were helpful with providing English names.

So, after the initial apprehension, was I glad I attended? It’s an unequivocal ‘yes!’ from me after a fabulous five days of botanising that I’ll never forget. Now there’s the mammoth task of entering all my sightings onto iRecord.

If you’d like to follow my antics as an amateur botany, fungi, entomology and bird recorder on the Isle of Anglesey I document many of my finds on Bluesky and on Twitter including regular Sunday night participation in #WildflowerHour. Plus if anyone would like information on where to botanise on the Isle of Anglesey I’d be more than happy to help you plan your visit and can even offer bespoke Botany or Birding tours".

Huge thanks to Mandy for this account of her first ever Summer Meeting and for the lovely photos (all taken by Mandy) which illustrate this blogpost - and for the offer to help wildlife lovers plan their trips to Anglesey! 

If you've been hesitating over whether or not to book for this event, maybe Mandy's account has reassured you that you'll be made very welcome and you'll have a fabulous time? Head over to the Ticket Tailor page to find out more about this year's Summer Meeting; you'll find a detailed programme, information about accommodation and a booking link. We'd love to see you there - and if you're coming along for the first time, we'd also love to publish your account of how it went!

Interview with Angus Hannah, author of BSBI Handbook #25: Brambles of Scotland

There’s a new addition to the series of BSBI Handbooks: we are delighted to announce that Brambles of Scotland is published this month. BSBI members will be able to benefit from an exclusive introductory offer of £13 (excl. P&P) which will save them £7 compared the RRP of £20. This offer opens on 21 April. 

I spoke to Angus Hannah, the author of the new Handbook, to find out about his botanical back-story and how he became interested in brambles.

LM: Before we start talking about Brambles of Scotland, could you tell us a bit more about yourself please? Regular readers will know you as BSBI’s County Recorder for the Clyde Islands (vc100) and author of the Isle of Bute Flora, for which you received the Presidents' Award in 2019. So, how did you get started as a botanist?  

AH: That goes back to my undergraduate years at St Andrews finding spring flowers along the Ladebraes. A sign by the pond read ‘Wild flowers are planted here, please do not pick’. The paradox of the first half amused me; the implication of the second half, that it would be fine to pick them if they had been truly wild made me wonder about conservation. In those days senior students had free access to the Library stacks and though the botany department was inactive there was a good shelf of older books from before 1847 when the University sold its birthright as a copyright library. Sowerby’s English Botany had much better illustrations than Collins Field Guide, and was my companion on many field trips to the Kinkell shore and Tentsmuir.

Picts' Bramble R. pictorum,
showing the intense colour
which the stems can
develop in full sun
Image: M. Harding

LM: So, what drew you to brambles (Rubus) as a genus? We all know what a bramble looks like and we certainly enjoy eating them in pies and crumbles, but may not realise that there are many different species.

AH: In my first decade as BSBI’s County Recorder for Clyde Isles I made no progress with brambles, and only the gentle persistence of my retired predecessor Tony Church, who had mastered the Arran brambles, finally persuaded me to have a go. He assured me that as long as one stays local they are not all that difficult, helped me with photographs, and even came to Bute to guide me in the field. 

When I identified the Picts' Bramble Rubus pictorum (new to Bute) from the description in Edees & Newton’s Brambles of the British Isles, while Tony was still puzzling over the specimen, I felt I had got over the first hurdle. But there were many more! Not every species matched its description so well. 

At that time, I was recording every monad (a 1km x 1km grid square) for my Isle of Bute Flora, and this gave me an opportunity to look at all the island brambles in detail at different seasons, making me familiar with about 15 species and providing the best possible grounding before I ventured more widely.

LM: So, what made you decide to take the leap from liking and recording members of this genus to taking on the mantle of being a BSBI Handbook author? Did you put yourself forward or were you encouraged by fellow botanists/ batologists?

Angus (on left) and Chris Miles
examining brambles in Dumfriesshire
Image: M. Harding

AH: It was dire necessity! Having been appointed the BSBI’s expert Referee for Scottish Rubus by default in 2023, as the only person in Scotland who knew anything about brambles (even if not very much) following the sad loss of George Ballantyne and then David Welch, there was no one else to write it, and I knew that without an illustrated field guide there was no future for Rubus studies in Scotland. 

I had been holding annual meetings around southwest Scotland with a few Scottish enthusiasts to look at the local brambles, and from time to time we would all say ‘if only there were pictures, it would make such a difference!’ But who could write it? 

One day, browsing John Richards’ recent Field Handbook to British and Irish Dandelions, I suddenly saw how it might be done. We have far fewer bramble species in Scotland than there are British dandelions. I could afford to give a double page spread to each, text and map on one page, photos on the other, and so the idea took form. At this stage it was a purely private venture, a simple field-guide for Scottish beginners in brambles; I had no thought of it becoming a Handbook.

But how could I get photos of every species? Looking over the records in the BSBI Distribution Database, I noticed that several counties in Scotland had almost no localised bramble species records, despite having plenty of brambles. 

Flower of Eagle's Talon Bramble
R. infestus
Image: C. Miles

Most obvious in the southwest was Dumfriesshire, and so I enquired of the County Recorder, Chris Miles, if he, or one his local group, might send me a few photos of brambles they met with on their jaunts, some of which I might be able to identify. In this way, I could get photos and he could get records. His amazing response was 160 sets of photos over the season, yielding more than a hundred new records. 

At the Scottish Botanists’ Conference in November 2023 I exhibited a poster about this and my proposed guide book, showing a sample page, and Liz Kungu, BSBI Handbook Editor, suggested I might consider making it a BSBI Handbook. I had not thought of this, since it was limited to the brambles of Scotland and was only intended for beginners. 

Liz felt it would have broader interest, for instance to visitors, and it might encourage similar volumes for other parts of Britain and Ireland.

Leaf of Eagle's Talon Bramble
R. infestus
Image: C. Miles

In the course of researching and writing I learned a great deal more about brambles, my enthusiasm for them increased, and the book grew from the simple beginners’ guide I had envisaged into a fully-fledged Handbook with quite a comprehensive introductory section discussing many aspects of their ecology and distribution as well as a more concise summary of morphology, taxonomy and modes of reproduction. It also includes a history of Rubus recording in Scotland, with detailed emphasis on the last half century. 

After this comes a gallery of photos illustrating the numerous characters needed for bramble identification, along with full explanatory text and two keys, followed by the species accounts and a series of Appendices, the first giving brief notes on 30 further species recorded from Scotland only very rarely, and with no confirmation of their continued presence. Many of these are illustrated by specimens from Newton’s collection in the Herbarium in Manchester Museum, very kindly found and passed on by David Earl. Refinding any of these 30 species becomes part of our ongoing Scottish bramble project.

Angus (on left) and Caspian Richards
examining bramble specimens
Image: M. Harding

LM: So, the Handbook is 220 pages long, and covers 56 species in depth, with a further 30 noted more briefly. How many are native and how many alien? And how many are new taxa, described by you or a fellow batologist?

AH: There are three cultivars of uncertain origin (certainly Scottish neophytes), and four or five others among the 56 are adventives, recently introduced accidentally from England, as are the majority of the 30 additional species. All the rest might be considered native to Scotland, though brambles have such a close symbiosis with humans that it is impossible to know if some might be better called archaeophytes. 

A few are endemic to Scotland, and may be assumed to have arisen here; the rest are migrants, arriving from the Continent as the cold lessened but probably in most cases before sea-levels rose, greatly enlarging the North Sea.

The "showy white flowers" of R. longiflorus,
photographed in 2020 in Kincardineshire
by the late David Welch 

Only two are recently described species: R. newtonii, published by George Ballantyne in Watsonia in 2002 and R. longiflorus published by David Welch in British & Irish Botany in 2021. For reasons I explain in the Handbook, unlike botanists in general, we are parsimonious in the publication of bramble species, and usually require evidence of a range extending over about 30 km before this would be considered. 

Further species might be published if some taxonomic problems can be resolved: a couple of our ‘species’ are almost certainly aggregates, and several share the name of an English species with which they may not in fact be conspecific. But much work remains to be done before any of these could be published under a new name.

LM: Indeed. Could you give us an example please of one of the 56 species you cover and what we can expect to find out from the new Handbook about its identification, distribution and current status?

The Reay Bramble R. hartmanii in Caithness
Image: Joan Docherty

AH: No bramble species has any conservation status, but every species has an interesting story. Perhaps the simplest, as it is the rarest species among the 56, is what I call the Reay bramble R. hartmanii. As currently understood, this species has a very abnormal distribution. Described in 1832 from a small stretch of the Baltic coast south of Stockholm, it was unknown elsewhere until a sizeable colony considered to be the same species was found in the Weald of Kent. In 1972 Newton found a bush which he identified as this species on the north coast of Scotland at Reay in Caithness, where it had been thought to be too cold and exposed for brambles to grow, and he didn’t expect it to survive for long. George Ballantyne checked up on it in 1982 and reported it to be thriving, as did David Welch in 2015. A resident of Bute who travels regularly to Dounreay for work kindly agreed to obtain the photos I needed if the Reay Bramble was to be included among the Scottish residents, a status it seemed to deserve after more than half a century.

Angus & Carol Crawford look up at
a giant R. ulmifolius with Arran
(one of the lovely Clyde Islands)
in the background
Image: M. Harding

Edees & Newton suggest that it was probably bird sown, but as I explain in the introductory section, this is exceedingly improbable, and as it is on the edge of a small plantation it is most likely to have been imported along with the trees, though some connection with the nearby nuclear plant cannot be ruled out. The text offers a detailed description to supplement the photos, but confusion with any other species is unlikely, since no other brambles currently grow in the vicinity. Its continuing prosperity, however, indicates that neither cold nor exposure is the reason for this absence; as I explain in the book the paucity of brambles in the north of Scotland, and more generally in the uplands, owes little to climate but is a result of the Highland Clearances and subsequent intensive grazing by sheep, and later deer too, which, combined with the loss of their natural dispersal vectors, makes them dependent on human agency for recolonisation.

LM: So in the Handbook you're helping us understand how these plants arrived and continued to prosper in their various locations, as well as how to identify them. You must have visited a lot of locations across Scotland in the course of your research. Are there any that particularly stand out in your memory?

Angus on a bramble meeting with Anne
Middleton & Michael Philip
Image taken by "a friendly anonymous artist"

AH: When I began the book the 2023 season was nearly over. A month earlier I had recorded the brambles of Colonsay with Anne Middleton, which taught me that brambles are tolerant of exposure but not of grazing. I had no plan then to write a book so soon, and despite having collected photos over the years, there were many species for which I had no pictures at all. The distribution of these dictated the places I would need to visit in 2024, except where a friend could be found to identify and photograph them for me. 

That summer’s bramble meeting was planned for Dumfriesshire, and with Chris Miles guiding us to some of the sites he had photographed the previous year, we were able fill a few gaps. 

Angus & the team examining
Elegant-petalled Bramble R. polyanthemus
in Ayrshire
Image: M. Harding

With Michael Philip I planned an expedition to the north-east, and with help and hospitality from David Elston we managed to see and photograph a dozen species unfamiliar in the southwest. Caspian Richards sent pictures from East Lothian and Berwickshire; I had a short visit to Stirlingshire with Matt Harding, one to Kintyre and a couple to Wigtownshire; Ian Green sent photos from Moray, Paul Smith from Lewis and Harris, and gradually the gaps were filled. 

Later, as already mentioned, David Earl sent me numerous images from Newton’s herbarium collection in Manchester Museum, illustrating the actual specimens of many of the adventive records detailed in the Appendix. In all these ways, the book has been very much a collaborative venture. 

LM: I think collaborative ventures are often the best kind! But you mentioned herbaria – did you visit many herbaria to look at specimens? Are herbarium specimens particularly useful when it comes to bramble identification? And how on earth do you press a bramble?

Herbarium sheet of
R. longiflorus
collected by David Welch in 2020 

AH: There is a good account of how to press brambles on John Norton’s website which also has many photos from life of Hampshire brambles, some of the more widespread of which grow in Scotland too. Dried specimens are harder to identify than living bushes, and on the whole it is more helpful for beginners to build a photographic reference collection, since the characters preserved in dried material are often different from those observed in the field, although they remain of great value to experts. 

An extensive photo collection is being assembled of living Scottish brambles, as a complement to the book, and it is hoped it will be made available online before too long. Photos of northern English brambles by David Earl can be found here.

LM: Please keep us posted about that photo collection of living Scottish brambles, Angus, it would be very useful to have that online and accessible to all of us! Photos are obviously very important when it comes to bramble identification – and illustrations are always an important part of any BSBI Handbook. So, what can we expect here, apart from the photographs: are there drawings and distribution maps?

Distribution map for R. dasyphyllus

AH: There are maps for 55 species, showing the relative frequency of records at hectad scale (10km x 10km). Recording is inevitably patchy, and these can be no more than a guide to where the species is most likely to be found. The maps are based on all-time records from the BSBI Distribution Database, and species will have been lost from some areas, and will sometimes be found where not previously recorded. Other maps in the book illustrate the severe losses of brambles (even as an aggregate) in most upland areas and across much of the Highlands, while others show the reduced level of species recording in the last 25 years (except for the handful of counties where batologists were active). 

The only drawing is the frontispiece by Sarah Cowan, joint County Recorder for Clyde Isles, showing R. hebridensis. 

LM: That is such a lovely drawing by Sarah, and of course it was used for the cover of Brambles of Scotland (image top right). And as you mentioned earlier, the galleries of photographs show the various characters needed for identification.

AH: Yes, each of the 56 main species is illustrated by a collage of about six to nine photos, selected to show the most helpful characters for identification. These were contributed by many helpers, as explained above, and I am most grateful to them all. There's an example on the left - a collage of images for Elegant-petalled bramble R. polyanthemus. 

LM: That looks really helpful (and very attractive!) So Angus, all BSBI Handbook authors benefit from editorial support to help them through the process towards publication. Who was on your editorial team?

AH: Liz Kungu, BSBI Handbook Editor, with help from David Pearman, steered the book into its final form. Earlier drafts were read by John Crossley, Carol Crawford and Michael Philip, all of whom made helpful suggestions both stylistic and typographical. David Earl read it with an expert batologist’s eye, and as already mentioned contributed many useful illustrations.

LM: You had a great team supporting you there. So finally, once people have a copy of this Handbook they will be keen to get out and use it in the field on some actual brambles – are there any events coming up this year where they can do that in the company of fellow botanists? Are you running any such events?

Angus and a mystery bramble
Image: M. Harding

AH: A meeting for anyone interested in brambles, whether already experienced or thinking of taking up the challenge is being held this year over the weekend of 5-6 July, based in Dunbar, East Lothian. I have never until now looked at a bramble in that county, so I will be as much a learner as anyone else. Please don’t be put off by the description ‘specialist, training’ - the meeting is for anyone who wishes to come. 

May I appeal particularly to anyone visiting Scotland (or a different part of it) to contact me if they might possibly think of taking a few bramble photos? I will supply some guidance and any information on what might be of particular interest in the locality. Getting Scottish brambles better recorded is our first task, and photos are the way to achieve this!

Angus and the team test the draft Handbook
on a patch of R. scissus in Dumfriesshire
Image: C. Miles

LM: Yes, indeed and I hope people will get in touch with you Angus, even if they don't feel ready to tackle identifying brambles to species. 

Readers, the important thing is: if you're going on holiday anywhere in Scotland and you can recognise anything that looks like a bramble, just take a photo and send it to Angus. Or email him before you set off to find out what to look out for and where to hunt. His contact details are on the Clyde Islands webpage so you can always get in touch with him.

Well, thanks for talking to us about the new Handbook, Angus. As you know it's the 25th in BSBI’s series of Handbooks for difficult plant groups. Brambles of Scotland has been a long time coming but it looks as though it will be well worth the wait – many thanks to you and your editors and contributors for all your hard work and thank you for talking to me today. Before you go, may I issue an invitation to you please? Would you be interested in giving a talk or a workshop, or some other kind of presentation, at one of our events later this year? Maybe the Summer Meeting in Melrose or the 2025 Scottish Botanists’ Conference in Edinburgh?

AH: I am always happy to talk about brambles when I'm at a BSBI event, so the answer is yes!

Angus examining a bramble in Stirlingshire
Image: M. Harding

LM: Thank you! Readers should keep an eye on the BSBI website for announcements of where and when Angus is talking about brambles. But for now, they will want to know how to get hold of a copy of the new Handbook.

First, check out the Brambles of Scotland webpage. 

If you are a BSBI member, there will be more details in the Spring issue of BSBI News, due out towards the end of April, of how BSBI members can benefit from our exclusive members-only offer and save £7, paying just £13 per copy compared to the RRP of £20. The special offer opens on Easter Monday, 21 April, and those prices don’t include postage & packaging. You will also be able to order your copy by following the links on the members-only area of the BSBI website (you'll need to have your password to hand – email us if you’ve forgotten it and don’t forget to include your membership number).

If you are not (yet) a BSBI member, you have two options: you will be able to buy the book soon from Summerfield Books and other natural history book-sellers. Or why not join BSBI and start enjoying all the benefits of membership, including this special offer? Take a look at our Join Us page which lists all the many benefits of BSBI membership and there's a secure payment option, making it very quick and easy for you to become a BSBI member and start getting involved. 

Angus in the field: the island on the horizon is Ailsa Craig, 
the most southerly of the Clyde Isles.
Image: M. Harding