The Irish Species Project (and memories of summer).

One nice thing about the BSBI Annual Exhibition Meeting is that it brings together botanists from across Britain & Ireland and makes it possible to catch up with what everybody is doing. 

Parnassia palustris - one of the ISP plants
Image: C. Ferguson-Smyth

So it was great to have both our Irish Officer Maria Long, and the newly-elected Chair of the Committee for Ireland John Faulkner, at the AEM. 

John gave a short presentation about the Irish Species Project and you can download it as a pdf here. Or head over here to see Maria Long's webpage for Ireland and scroll down column 3 to read more about the ISP. 

If you are resident in Ireland, whether in the north or in the Republic, or are just planning to visit on holidays, it's worth getting in touch with Maria and contributing to this excellent project. 

As John says "The Irish Species Project is your opportunity to help give botany in Ireland a big boost. It’s BSBI's first project specifically designed for members in Ireland and for those who aren’t yet members. Visitors can take part too! The 8 species in the project are very appealing and easily recognised, but they are ones we need to know more about. They are widespread around Ireland but we think they may be getting scarcer."

Dunkeld fieldtrip, one of many at the Summer Meeting
Image: B. Barnett

We have also uploaded Ian Denholm's AEM presentation on the BSBI Annual Summer Meeting 2014, held in Perthshire and covered in detail on the pages of News & Views last June. 

But some of the plants seen are real stunners, so can I suggest you take five minutes out of your busy day, download Ian's presentation here and enjoy some of the gorgeous images taken by Ian and fellow ASM participants such as Bert Barnett and Jay MacKinnon.