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Tag Archives: New Year Plant Hunt

New Year’s Plant Hunt

03 Sunday Jan 2021

Posted by sconzani in flowers, plants, wildflowers, winter

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Tags

#WildflowerHour, British wildflowers, New Year Plant Hunt, winter wildflowers

The New Year Plant Hunt is happening again this year, from 1 to 4 January, but participants must, of course, stick to the Covid-19 restrictions in their areas. (In case you’re new to the idea of the Plant Hunt, all the details are on the BSBI website here.) I am taking part, of course, and, as a practice run, I used my meander around local streets and countryside footpaths on New Year’s Eve to see what I could find. It was very chilly, as you’ll see from the ice crystals still on a couple of the flowers, but I was very pleased to find 14 plants still in bloom: Alexanders, Bramble, Common vetch, Daisy, Dandelion, Gorse, Groundsel, Ivy, Knapweed, Primrose, Red clover, Red valerian, Shepherd’s purse, and Winter heliotrope.

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2/366 New Year Plant Hunt

02 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by sconzani in nature, wildflowers, winter

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

British wildflowers, Cardiff Bay, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter wildflowers

While I was walking around Cardiff Bay yesterday, not only was I keeping an eye on the sky for birds, I was also looking down a lot, trying to find as many wildflowers in bloom as possible for the New Year Plant Hunt – to be honest, it’s amazing I didn’t fall over, with my head bobbing up and down like one of those nodding dogs you used to see in the back windows of cars (some of you may be too young to remember those!).

200102 1 thistle sp
200102 2 common ragwort

The New Year Plant Hunt actually goes on for four days, from the 1st to the 4th, so you’ve still time to join in. The event is run by the BSBI, the Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland, and aims to ‘find out how our wildflowers are responding to changes in autumn and winter weather patterns’. You can read all about it on their website, and follow along on the social media of your choice.

200102 3 winter heliotrope
200102 4 red clover

I was surprised and delighted with my haul from yesterday, finding 28 (!) wildflowers in bloom. My tentative identifications are: a thistle species; Common ragwort; Winter heliotrope; Red clover; a Gorse species; Daisy; one of the Cat’s-ears (I think); a member of the carrot family, perhaps one of the parsleys; Bristly oxtongue; Red valerian; Hemlock water dropwort; a dandelion species; Black nightshade; a sowthistle species; a mayweed, I think; a buttercup species; Bramble; Sea radish; a hawkweed species; Groundsel; Petty spurge (with a rust fungus); Narrow-leaved bittercress; White melilot; Yarrow; Oxeye daisy; Common kapweed; Shepherd’s-purse; and Herb Robert.

200102 5 gorse sp
200102 6 daisy
200102 7 cats ear sp
200102 8 parsley sp
200102 9 bristly oxtongue
200102 10 red valerian
200102 11 hemlock water dropwort
200102 12 dandelion sp
200102 13 Black nightshade
200102 14 sowthistle sp
200102 15 mayweed sp
200102 16 buttercup sp
200102 17 bramble sp
200102 18 sea radish
200102 19 a hawkweed perhaps
200102 20 groundsel
200102 21 petty spurge
200102 22 narrow-leaved bittercress
200102 23 White melilot
200102 24 yarrow
200102 25 oxeye daisy
200102 26 common knapweed
200102 27 shepherds purse
200102 28 herb robert

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New Year Plant Hunt

30 Sunday Dec 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, wildflowers, winter

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

#7DaysofWildChristmas, #NewYearPlantHunt, British flora, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter-blooming wildflowers

From 29 December to 1 January don’t be surprised if you see people taking photos of blooming wildflowers, puzzling over pictures in ID books, scratching their heads over the differences between one plant species and another. We are the New Year Plant Hunters, doing our best to find and identify as many wildflowers in bloom as possible throughout Britain to help the BSBI (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) keep track of what’s happening in the botanical world around us. And you can join in. Go for a walk, list what you find and submit your list on the BSBI website. So, for day 6 of my #7DaysofWildChristmas, I took myself on a walk around Penarth and was delighted to find these 27 species in bloom.

181230 bittercress sp
181230 black nightshade
181230 bramble
181230 buttercup sp
181230 cat's-ear
181230 common knapweed
181230 common ragwort
181230 daisy
181230 dove's-foot crane's-bill
181230 forget-me-not
181230 gorse
181230 groundsel
181230 herb robert
181230 ivy-leaved crowfoot
181230 mallow sp
181230 mayweed maybe
181230 radish sp
181230 red clover
181230 red dead-nettle
181230 red valerian
181230 shepherd's purse
181230 sow thistle
181230 spurge sp
181230 thistle sp
181230 unknown umbellifer
181230 winter heliotrope
181230 yarrow

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New Year Plant Hunt

02 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by sconzani in flowers, nature, plants, winter

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Tags

#NewYearPlantHunt, British wildflowers, BSBI, New Year Plant Hunt, wildflowers in bloom, winter-blooming wildflowers

Did you do the New Year Plant Hunt?

180102 New Year Plant Hunt (1)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (2)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (3)

 
Running from Saturday 30 December until today, Tuesday 2 January, this was the BSBI’s (Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland) seventh annual plant hunt event. The idea is to spend three hours on one of those days (or every day, if you’re as keen as Hoary mustard), in one location (or several, if you like to roam like Ivy), trying to find as many wild or naturalised plants that are flowering as you can. You then share your finds on social media and, most importantly, you also need to send your records in to the BSBI team so they can analyse the results (full details on their website here).

180102 New Year Plant Hunt (4)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (5)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (6)

On the last day of 2017 I took myself off on a wander around Penarth township and marina – basically, within the square kilometre that is ST1872 – and was delighted to find 15 different wild plants in bloom. The Field scabious was a particular highlight!

180102 New Year Plant Hunt (7)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (8)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (9)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (10)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (11)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (12)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (13)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (14)
180102 New Year Plant Hunt (15)

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About me

sconzani

sconzani

I'm a writer and photographer; researcher and blogger; birder and nature lover; countryside rambler and city strider; volunteer and biodiversity recorder.

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  • Grazing January 18, 2021
  • Midwinter wildflowers January 17, 2021
  • Ducks in a row January 16, 2021
  • Winter rusts January 15, 2021
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