Sunday 14 September 2014

With the Autumn Lady`s-tresses the last Orchid to flower in our two year project, we now enter a phase of record collection and collation.
If you have records of orchids for this year...or even last year...that you have not sent in please do so now. Please dont wait until the end of the year. We will be very pleased to get them.
Search your brains and notebooks for old records of interest and send them in as well. The possible Lizard orchid sightings at moleskin for instance in the 1980`s would be very interesting to receive.

The ALT`s had a very good year..and its still worth a visit to Knocking hoe at Pegsdon to see them.
We counted over 400 plants that flowered this year. Many have been eaten by slugs or rabbits, but a good few have persisted and should be setting seed. The future is fairly rosie for this very restricted species, but it would be more secure if it managed to spread to other sites.

Orchids never seem to rest, and the ALT`s already have the shoots and leaves that will feed the tuber for next years flowers. Bee orchids are also just starting to show little green shoots at soil level having only had a month or two off from growing and flowering.
It`s possible we may recieve some new  bee orchid  from eagle eyed reorders before the end of the year!
Thanks to everyone who have sent in records, and i hope you have enjoyed the field work.
Its up to us now to get all the interesting stuff into the book!

For the future, and for those with a broader interest in Botany there is below an invitation from John Wakely to a meeting to re-launch a Bedfordshire Flora Group. This group will collect records for the forthcoming  new atlas of the flora of the British Isles due 2020. As john says any level of expertise is welcome and this is a good opportunity to improve your botanical skills.( and ...look for more orchids!!)
I hope to see as many of you as are interested on the 6th October, do come along and learn what the Flora Group is planning. Please let john know if you are coming..this will help with catering and any paperwork production!


"BEDFORDSHIRE FLORA GROUP 2015

In order to obtain records for his excellent 2010 'Flora of Bedfordshire', Chris Boon recruited an enthusiastic team of amateurs. Some were allocated a portion of the vice county (usually a 10k square). Members recorded the plants in their 'patch' over several flowering seasons. Chris provided help with advice and resources. Many of us learnt a lot as a result and became half decent field botanists.

The Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) is due to publish a new Atlas of the Flora of the British Isles in 2020. This will enable changes in the flora to be identified. In turn we can then attempt to explain these changes. This is likely to be vital in monitoring such factors as climate change, agricultural practice and urbanisation. Without the raw data we will not be able to target conservation effort.
 
BNHS is keen to establish a new flora group to gather records for the BSBI 2020 Atlas project. We would welcome anyone who wishes to get involved. Experience is not essential. We would welcome any level of expertise. It is appreciated that everyone will be able to devote different amounts of time. Help, support and tuition will be given as appropriate. 
 
I would like to invite anyone interested to an initial meeting to discuss aims, objectives and methods. This will be held at Priory Park at 19.30 on Mon 6th October. The meeting will last a maximum of 2 hours. I would appreciate if anyone interested would let me know.

 
John Wakely, co-ordinator"

01525860085