Botanical Society of Britain & Ireland

Are you interested in shaping the future of the leading charitable organisation promoting the enjoyment, study and conservation of wild plants in Britain and Ireland?

We currently have openings on our board of trustees, our country committees and standing committees, for roles that will help our governance and shape our strategy.

Take a look at the role descriptions on our website and get in touch with any questions.

https://bsbi.org/about/people/volunteering/volunteer-vacancies

📸 Sarah Woods

"I wanted to let you know that I have recorded over 100 species this year - but I’m very much carrying on! Some of the species are now firmly implanted in my brain and it’s like coming across a friend when I see them in the street - at the moment Prickly Lettuce seems to be everywhere, and I’ve spotted Caper Spurge on a few occasions now, too. I’m never bored, even on the most mundane walks to work or the shops, as I’m always on the look out for something new, or to test myself if I can identify a plant I’ve seen before - especially as the plants develop and change through the year. Thanks for all the joy that this has brought me."

Our 100 Plants challengers are brightening our days with their feedback - it's not to late to take part and make every walk an adventure:

The 100 Plants in 2026 Challenge The BSBI is for everyone who cares about the wild plants of Britain and Ireland.

Whoops , there's been a little bit of an oversight on your shortlist for new banknotes - the entire plant kingdom?

Don't worry; we know wildlife ≠ just animals, birds and insects, so we've fixed it for you. How about any one of our 1,692 native species, some of them endemic and found nowhere else on earth?

Of course some of these are Scottish, and we love how have incorporated plants into their natural designs. There's still time to put some thrift on that cash!

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Three cheers for the volunteers 📣⭐ It's and at the BSBI we are indebted to each and every one of you: our experts, our vice-county recorders, our trainers, our verifiers, recorders, event organisers, committee members, trustees, authors, photographers, supporters and *botanists* of all varieties.

Recording over 1 million plants every year, helping thousands of people better their understanding of wild plants, and providing the information that makes evidence-based conservation happen at a national and international level - it's just what they do, brilliantly.

So here's to them, and to you. If you are interested in finding out more about our current formal volunteering opportunities, visit our website: https://bsbi.org/about/people/volunteering

📸BSP-NI and others

Looking to quantify your current botanical skill level this year, for personal or professional reasons? Our Field Identification Skills Certificate is the gold-standard; a straightforward assessment of your real-life botanical skills. And we have upcoming dates with spaces:

🌱 20 May, Kent - provider: Natural England
🌳 29 May, Oxfordshire - provider: FSC
🌼 1 June, South Wales - provider: Plantlife [our first FISC in Wales]
Other locations with availability in June: Lancashire, Shropshire (x4), Hertfordshire, Surrey (x2), West Sussex (x2), Devon, North Yorkshire, Hampshire (x2), Devon, Stirlingshire

Conducted over a day, the FISC is an enjoyable experience. It consists of two lab sessions where candidates identify 30 fresh specimens followed by a field survey where you spend a couple of hours building a species list on an interesting local site. Your identifications are then compared to a list generated by the Gold Standard Surveyor to determine your skill level.

Book a FISC today: https://bsbi.org/learn/field-identification-skills-certificate/book-a-fisc

📸 Matt Harding

We've just launched our new Botanical Photographer of the Year competition!
Building on the much-loved BSBI Photo Competition, a mainstay of the Scottish Botanists' Conference, we've introduced a new youth award, a refreshed format and - for the first time - a judging panel.
We hope you'll enter your best images of wildflowers across Britain and Ireland in any or all of 5 categories.
Find out more: https://bsbi.org/take-part/activities/bpoty

Interested in recording, or perhaps you already record other species groups and wonder if you might enjoy adding plants to your repertoire?

Tomorrow (Wednesday 6 May)at 7pm BST, we are hosting a webinar on why getting to know plants facilitates the recording of other species, presented by one of Britain's most accomplished field naturalists, Graeme Lyons, the author of Pan-Species Listing: How to Become a Super-Naturalist.

Understanding plants is the gateway to identifying and recording a whole world of other species. Once you know the plants, the rusts and galls growing on them become far easier to recognise. A caterpillar nibbling a leaf is much easier to name when you know its foodplant, and countless other organisms - beetles, aphids, bees and more - have close, often specialised relationships with particular plants.

Find out more and register: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/botanicalsocietyofbritainireland/2048432

3 cheers for Paul McHugh, one of our students.
He spotted a whitlowgrass in Co. Londonderry: turns out it was Glabrous Whitlowgrass & the 1st county record!
3 more cheers for Tim Rich who noticed the plant's true identity!
Read the press release: https://bsbi.org/about/news/press-releases/wildflower-found-by-beginner-botanist-is-first-ever-county-record
Hear Paul tell the full story on BBC Radio Ulster (starts c37 mins in): https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002vkhq

Wildflower found by beginner botanist is first ever county record The BSBI is for everyone who cares about the wild plants of Britain and Ireland.

We're delighted to announce that the BSBI has been awarded funding from the Nature Networks Fund, delivered through the Heritage Fund on behalf of the Welsh Government, to continue our Priority Plants on Sites of Special Scientific Interest project into a second phase, running until 2029. Cymru am Byth!

This project aims to help improve both the evidence for Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Wales, and the plant species that exist on them, through examining plant features that have gone 'missing' - those with no records on the Distribution database (DDb) - from these sites over time.

There are about 1,000 Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in Wales, covering about 12% of the country. The ‘features’ of an SSSI are reasons for the site’s special status and protection - around 650 of these are individual plant taxa.

Phase one of the project resulted in 69 plant features being reported on, with 20 being re-found through surveys conducted in partnership with local volunteers and experts. Phase two will build on and better our phase one targets, as well as continuing investigations into existing 'missing' features.

Find out more about the project on our website.

📸 BSBI Staff at the Senedd Biodiversity Day, and hunting for Dwarf Willow.