Notes from the Ireland Officer – Paul Green

Notes from the Ireland Officer – Paul Green

Email: paul.green@bsbi.org

I only had a short break from the job as BSBI acting Ireland Officer, as I finished in October 2021, when Sarah Pierce returned from maternity leave. It is very sad to have to report that Sarah stepped down as the Ireland Officer due to ill health, and I took over again from late February 2022. Sarah has done an exceptional job over the last three years, and will be missed by all. I would like to take this opportunity on behalf of BSBI to thank Sarah for all she has done for BSBI.

Spring Conference 2022

Again, this year it is going to be an online webinar on Saturday 2nd April from 10am through to 1pm. There will be talks on Strawberry-tree (Arbutus), Seagrass (Zostera), etc. There will be a 15-minute coffee/tea break at half time, where there will be a slideshow of botanical images. If you would like some of your photos to be included, please do send them to the above email address.

Aquatic Plant Project 2022

There will be some online webinar training, and about ten days of field training this year. In 2021 Nick Stewart did three online webinars for us which were on the topics of Water-starworts (Callitriche), Water-crowfoots (Ranunculus subgenus Batrachium) and Pondweeds (Potamogeton) with broad leaves. Nick Stewart also led six aquatic plant training days for us, three days in Co. Cork, two in Co. Waterford, and one in Co. Kilkenny. John Faulkner led a day on large riparian sedges in Co. Monaghan, and Cilian Roden and John Conaghan led a training day in Co. Galway. In total 51 different people attended the training days.

Irish Grasslands Project

There were four online webinar training days in 2021. The first one was by the Ireland Officer on ‘Eight Yellow Members of the Daisy Family’. The second was by Dr Fionnuala O’Neill on ‘Meadow-grass and Bent ID’. Brenda Harold did two on Cinquefoils (Potentilla), one was aimed at beginners, and the other at the more advanced botanist, and Richard Bateman gave two talks on Fragrant Orchids (Gymnadenia). Five grass ID field training days also took place. These were led by the Ireland Officer, with Edwina Cole (Cork & Kildare), Fiona MacGowan (Laois) & Brian O’Connor (Wexford x 2) assisting. We have decided to put on hold the Irish Grassland Project this year, but hopefully pick it up again in 2023. Our YouTube video talks from 2021 on the BSBI website, from the above two projects, our Spring Conference, and our Autumn meeting have been viewed over 5000 times between them, which is very impressive! I hope I will get the chance to meet many of you on field meetings this year.