BSBI Summer Meeting Day I – White Park Bay

Recently the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) held it’s Annual Summer Meeting (ASM) in Northern Ireland. Yesterday I covered the first part of Day I, now it’s on to part two! White Park Bay, Co. Antrim  White Park Bay is a spectacular area and is owned by the National Trust. We had seen many pictures of the area earlier in the morning during the talks and presentations and while they were amazing shots, nothing can prepare you for the amazing scenery that it has to offer. We were given some further background to the site and then split up into three recording groups so botanise in different habitats and locations.

Getting briefed about White Park Bay – Oisín Duffy

But first, here’s a quick shot of how everything looked before recording!

White Park Bay – Oisín Duffy

Along the way to the dune system we noticed another group –

Cows on the beach – Oisín Duffy

It didn’t take long for the recording to start and all of a sudden scientific names were flying in from every member of the group. On my first BSBI outing in 2013 I knew very few scientific names and it was great to know that my Latin and Greek has obviously improved quite a bit as I understood most of what was being recorded. A great thing about being in a smaller group is that you get to see the various ways people have of identifying species or distinguishing confusion species. It’s also great for getting tips and being shown species from some of the trickier groups (grasses, sedges etc). I think sometimes these groups are slightly more difficult to remember, but thanks to Con Breen I came away knowing a few more grasses and sedges. One species that stuck with me in particular (probably as it was everywhere) was Avenula pubescens.

Avenula pubescens – Oisín Duffy

With the more common species already recorded on the card, the time came to do some hardcore botanising. I always find that there is a great amount of camaraderie between botanists and it’s great when everyone is chipping in to achieve a common goal, in this case an identification. Some shots of this interaction are below –

BSBI Botanists at White Park Bay – Oisín Duffy

More group Identification by BSBI Botanists – Oisín Duffy

BSBI botanist discussing ID features – Oisín Duffy

Everyone gathering to admire Spring Squill (Scilla verna) – Oisín Duffy

BSBI President and Orchid Referee Ian Denholm, investigating with a hand lens – Oisín Duffy

My highlight for this trip and in fact the whole day was recording Spring Squill (Scilla verna) a plant which I had not come across before.

Spring Squill (Scilla verna) – Oisín Duffy

Luckily the species was abundant in the area so there was plenty to be found and photographed. Other interesting species we came across –

Heath Spotted Orchid (Dactylorhiza maculata)

Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride) – Oisín Duffy

Common Twayblade (Neottia ovata)

An excellent end to the first day of the BSBI ASM in Northern Ireland.

Everyone heading back to the bus after a nice day botanising! – Oisín Duffy

BSBI Summer Meeting Day I – Garry Bog

The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) recently held its Annual Summer Meeting (ASM) in Northern Ireland which involved botanists from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK coming together to enjoy the splendour of Ulster’s scenery and of course to record plants across a number of habitats and locations.

The ASM for me started on the Saturday (13/06/15) where in the morning we attended a number of talks about the natural history of Ulster, including habitats, geology and pressures/threats which are putting species at risk.
Dr. Micheline Sheehy Skeffington chaired the morning of presentations which seen talks from stalwart BSBI botanist John Faulkner, who gave an introduction to botany in Ulster,  Patrick Casement was next and gave us some of his personal background and reflections of North Coast. After a short break we got a detailed presentation regarding the habitats, species and geology from Paul Corbett and Ian Enlander.
During the talks/presentations we viewed a number of images from the sites which we would be visiting over the weekend and this conjured some great excitement for the audience of botanists (many of whom were having their first visit to the North Coast).

Garry Bog –
The first site we visited was Garry Bog, Co. Antrim a raised bog and National Nature Reserve managed by the Northern Ireland Environmental Agency (NIEA). David McNeil (V.C Recorder H39) led the outing.

On route to Garry Bog – Oisín Duffy

After we were given a short talk on site history we made our way into the bog and started to record any species we could find. Sundew species (Drosera sp) were the first things to capture our attention.

Micheline pointing out sundew species (Drosera sp). – Oisín Duffy

Every bog pool had a number of very interesting plant and it was a delight to come across some of the following.

Drosera Anglica – Oisín Duffy

Drosera rotundifolia – Oisín Duffy

Bogbean (Menyanthes trifoliata) – Oisín Duffy

On route from one bog pool to another we also came across Carex panicea and Carex pilulifera along with large amounts of Sphagnum sp. Due to my interest in these pools and being shown some species which I hadn’t come across before, I didn’t actually make it too far into the vast expanse of bog, but of course others did.

 

As we were preparing to head back to the bus Bog Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) was spotted flowering in great abundance. I had come across the species before, but never in flower, this was my highlight from Garry Bog.

Bog Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) – Garry Bog – Oisín Duffy

Bog Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) – Garry Bog – Oisín Duffy

Bog Cranberry (Vaccinium oxycoccos) is also part of the BSBI Irish Species Project, which aims to record eight species of plant which are in need with more up-to-date information. If you find Bog Cranberry or are just interested in the project follow the link below to find out more information.

Click to access ISP_guidance_doc_7.4.14.pdf

Next post will involve our trip to the beautiful White Park Bay.