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FROM THE PRESIDENT / EDITORIAL
FROM THE PRESIDENT
EDITORIAL
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First of all, congratulations to two of our longstanding members, on their New Year’s Honours. Dr Judy Webb BEM, is an Oxfordshire botanist, and Dr Steph Tyler OBE, is joint recorder for Monmouthshire and chair of the Committee for Wales. This news was too late for me to include in the January issue.
February was a cold, wet, windy and inhospitable month, during which many people longed for the spring to arrive and to see green shoots emerging. As I write this, March is coming in with strong winds and rain. It seemed more difficult this winter and I realised how much I depend on plants to lift my spirits. Plants perk me up, they help purify the environment and they prolong life.
In preparing a presentation with Louise Marsh for the Bucks Members Environmental Recorders’ Conference (BMERC) about the BSBI, I also became aware that I enjoy recording plants partly to see their patterns (distribution), to help share my knowledge and enthusiasm (passion) with others, and of course, to help protect the plants and habitats (places). Being part of a network and contributing to a much wider purpose is added value for me. (Have you spotted the common thread yet?)
Now the Wild Garlic is popping up, Lesser Celandines are in flower and Daisies continue to open up when the sun peeps through. Last March I began a local exploration of sites for Fingered Sedge (Carex digitata), which continues as I have now realised it is winter-green, so I can record it throughout the year. But I needed another species to target and have selected Mezereon (Daphne mezereum) and Spurge Laurel (D. laureola), both of which are uncommon and in flower now. As a friend said, ‘You can smell Mezereon before you see it’, and that definitely helps locate it in the woods. Spurge Laurel is more widespread and less choosy in its requirements, whereas Mezereon definitely prefers well-drained slopes in dappled shade on limestone rocks. Fingered Sedge likes those conditions too.
Many of the committees have met recently and are taking our work forward in diverse ways. Despite not meeting in person, this has led people to come up with new ideas and ways of achieving progress. Quite when we will be able to meet in reality will be seen in the future. Perhaps the September issue of BSBI News will reveal how our lives will have ‘regrown’. We have just appointed a new Chief Executive Officer, and I can confirm that Julia Hanmer, who previously worked for the Bat Conservation Trust, will be joining us from 6th April. We all look forward to welcoming her into the Society.
Lynne Farrell lynneonmull@btinternet.com
As promised in BSBI News 145 I am pleased to include an article in this issue outlining BSBI’s new Policy on Nature Conservation (see next page) which I think will be welcomed by many members. There is also the latest update to the British Red Data List of vascular plants (p. 27), which I found particularly interesting, even though it deals mainly with the more obscure taxa, including many recently named (or re-named) critical species, subspecies and other segregates, most of which I’d not even heard of. The update mentions several taxa in groups covered by recent BSBI handbooks, such as Eyebrights and Gentians, and also some included in the latest published volume of Sell & Murrell’s Flora of Great Britain and Ireland.
This issue also has more news of botanical discoveries, including Great Pignut on the South Downs and Jersey Pink in Hampshire. Are they native or ‘naturalised’? Read the articles and decide for yourself!
BSBI has been looking at ways of going greener, and we experimented by printing the last issue of BSBI News on slightly lighter weight paper. No-one seems to have noticed and the printing quality and ‘feel’ of the newsletter are virtually the same as before, so we will continue with this for the current and future issues. There will be a very small saving in the amount of raw materials used to make the paper (which is environmentally certified by FSC) and a small but significant cost-saving in printing and postage. We’ve considered potato starch packaging; however, we’ve decided for now to continue sending out BSBI News in brown paper envelopes, since they are made from 80% recycled pulp and are fully recyclable. We’ll continue to take steps to reduce BSBI’s environmental impact and we hope you approve of our efforts.
